Assessing the Impacts of Eucalyptus Plantation Expansion on the Farm Land: The Case of Damot Gale Woreda, Wolayta Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Majority of the People in Ethiopia rely on eucalyptus for socioeconomic benefits. As a result, the conversion of farmlands into eucalyptus woodlots has sparked significantly. There has been still a concern on eucalyptus expansion on charge . The study aimed at assessing the impact of eucalyptus plantation expansion on the farm land in the case of Damot Gale woreda, Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia. Spatial data were collected different years' (1993,2003,2013 and 2023) satellite imageries were used to effectively analyze LULC changes patch to compute the trend of eucalyptus expansion. Around 165 sample points were collected using handheld GPS Garmin 72 to check the image classification accuracy. Socio economic data were collected using semi structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The Socio economic results showed that about 61.3% (114) of the households were converted their farm lands into eucalyptus plantation .The reasons for the expansion of eucalyptus plantations include economic influence the benefits of eucalyptus, road construction, and urban expansion, as stated by respondents, key informants, and focus group desiccation. From the spatial data analysis result, substantial LULC changes have been observed in the last three decades. The result show that farmland decreased by 19.96% from the year 1993 to 2023, The trend of eucalyptus plantation expansion has increased from 257.67ha (9.07%) in 1993 to 1099.17ha in 2023 by 29.63 % of Farm land into Eucalyptus changed .Farmers plant eucalyptus in study areas on areas of farm land b y 122 farmers (65.59%), grazing land by 31 farmers (16.67%), on degraded land or the land that declines in productivity of cereal crops by 19 farmers (10.22%), and in bush land by 14 farmers (7.53%). This shows that communities are intensively converting their farmland to eucalyptus woodland and this creates a huge negative impact on farm land. These call an intervention and effective agricultural land use planning and management policies in accordance with eucalyptus plantation.