3.1.

Description of Study Area

This section describes the location of the study area, climate, relief, indigenous knowledge, socio
economic setting and sectoral activities.

Menz Gera Midir Woreda is one of the Woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is partly

named after the northern district of the former province of Menz, Gera Midir. Located at the
eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands in the North  Shoa Zone, Menz Gera Midir is bordered
on the south by Menz Mama and Menz Lalo Midir, on the southwest by Menz Keya Gebreal, on
the west by the Qechene River which separates it from the Debub Wollo Zone, on the north
by Geshe Rabel, on the northeast by Antsokiyana Gemza, and on the east by Efratana Gidim.
The administrative center of this woreda is Mehal Meda., 282Km North of Addis Ababa. It is
one of the 105 Woreda s in the region.

The geographical location of Menz Gera-Midir Wereda lies between 10°00´ N to 10°34´N and 39°17´E to
39°43´E (Ayele & Husain, 2015). There are, according to this paper, three agro-ecological zones in the
wereda; these are Alphine (wurch), temperate (dega), and sub-tropical (weina dega) . It has a bimodal
rainfall model with unpredictable patterns. The rainy season usually runs from June to August. Annual
rainfall ranges from 700mm to 1200mm. The mean annual temperature of the area is 12.7ºc. The District
comprises 20 Kebelle administrations (KAs). The total population of the District is estimated to 122913,
of whom 60243 are men and 62670 women;. The total area of the District is 111893.26 hectare. The
average population density of that year was 101p/km2 of land.

3.1.1. Physical Setting of the Woreda

Relief

The elevation in Menz Gera Midir range between 1680 to 4000 meter above sea level. The
highest point in this woreda , as well as the zone, is mount Abuye Meda(4012 meter) near the
eastern border. The topography of the woreda includes 38% rugged terrain, mountainous area
constitute about 25%, flat landscape constitute 23% valley and water body consists of 13% and
1%, respectively. The land use pattern of the area consists of cultivated land (33%),
grass/grazing land (34%), marginal land and residential area constitute 30%, forest and bushes
constitute 2% and water body has 1%.
Climate

The Woreda which is one of the region’s most vulnerable to rainfall vulnerability and recurrent
drought. The climate condition of the Woreda is ranges from humid to sub humid. The range of
mean annual rainfall is 700-1200mm and temperature is 7-180c.

The long term annual rainfall is 1030mm and average minimum and maximum temperatures are
70c and 180c respectively. The rainfall pattern and distribution of the woreda is characterized by
fluctuation and erratic nature. Annual variability of rain caused farmers to depend on the Mehar
rain while their main agricultural seasons were Belg before two or three decades.

3.1.2. Economic Situation

Mixed farming (cultivation of crops and rising of livestock) is single most important source of
livelihood that comprises about 93% the total sources of livelihood. Main season crops are
barely, wheat and bean. The cropping pattern is predominantly subsistence oriented. Wool
spinning, weaving, petty trade and the likes are the most common local trades. In sum the area is
endowed with variety of natural resources such as water resources(small, and medium scale
irrigation schemes), construction material (wood, stone and sand) and considerable amount of
livestock population.

Crop Production

The woreda has two agricultural production seasons. According to NMSA the long rain season
summer which covers 90% o the total production. Lasts from June to September and the short
season, Belg which covers 10% of the total production, lasts from February to may. Before two
decades, the main agricultural season was Belg accounting for 90%. But now the production
season totally shift to Mehar season. The main crop grow in the area are barely, wheat, bean,
peas, lentil and chicken peas. The crop production trend of the woreda has shown variation
throughout the years. According to the data obtained from woreda (WARDO, 2019), the trend
of crop production and land cultivation is presented in fig2.
 Figure 1: Menz Gera Woreda crop production from 2016 to 2018

The presentation discloses, in 2016, the total area cultivated was 18205ha and a total of
193932.77quintal of production were obtained with the yield of 10.65quintal, from this the major
crop production in the woreda were barely, bean, wheat and lentil production. Barely 6807.55ha
and a total of 64929.5 quintal of production were obtained with a yield of 9.5qt/ha, wheat
4825.5ha and a total of 63702.5quintal of production were obtained with a yield of 13.2qt/ha,
bean 3678.8ha and a total of 36109.5 quintal of production were obtained with a yield of 9.8
qt/ha and lentil 1039.8ha and a total of 10388.9 quintal of production were obtained with a yield
of 9.99 qt/ha respectively. In 2019, the total area cultivated was 14854.5ha and a total of
233947quintal of production were obtained with a yield of 15.79qt/ha, from this the major crop
productions in the woreda were barely, bean, wheat and lentil production. Barely 7036 ha and a
total of 80115 quintal of production were obtained with a yield of 11.3qt/ha, wheat 4733 ha and a
total of 83243.4 quintal of production were obtained with a yield of 17.5qt/ha, bean 4179 ha and
a total of 50718 quintal of production were obtained with a yield of 12.1 qt/ha for barely, wheat
and beans respectively. The major factors that are accountable for failure in crop production are
natural hazards, natural resources degradation, and inconsistence rainfall, pest and diseases,
flood problem, small farm size per household, shortage of arable land, limited modern input
utilization, limited irrigation habit, and shortage of capital in terms of capital terms of financial
power. Crop failure is also very common in the area whenever the rain late coming and stop at
flowering stage of crop. These factors force the farmer to change the cropping pattern as well as
the types of cropping grown, though the data not available on the magnitude of damage, frost is
among the major factors responsible for low crop production in the area.

Livestock Production
The Woreda is highly livestock resources. The major types of livestock raised in the area
include cattle, shoats, equines and poultry. Animal products and by products are poor because of
shortage of grazing land associated with poor quality pasture and feed and presence of diseases
and parasites. The major livestock diseases in the area are anthrax, black legs, pastrolosis, new
castle, internal and external parasites.

250000
Number of Livestock Production From 2016-1019 Livestock type

N 200000
o
Cattle
o
f
150000 Shoat
L
i Equine
v
e 100000
s Bee colony
t
o
c
k 50000

Figure 2: Livestock production in Menz Gera Wureda (2016-2019) Source: Menz Gera
Woreda Livestock resource development and promotion office (2020)
More than 92% of the people in the woreda are engaged in mixed agriculture that involves crop
production and livestock rearing. The livestock sub sector play an essential role in the livelihood
of the community covering 25% of household earning. The poor performance in livestock
production and productivity including inbreeding, inadequate feed and nutrition, wide spread
disease and poor animal health, poor genetic structure and factors related to veterinary (Woreda
ARDO, 2019).

Shortage of feed primarily arise from livestock population pressure and the resultant
overgrazing, followed by absence of improved livestock feed. From evolution made with
different beneficiaries, it is evident that the area of grass land is shrinking from time to time due
to growing demand for farm land and equileuptus forest land. Most of the farmers use stored hay
or crop residue as a feed during dry season when communal pastures are totally bare. Improved
pasture and forage development techniques, therefore, need to be introduced to enhance livestock
production.

The existing livestock breeds indigenous types that have low productivity both in terms of yield
of milk and meat. There are very few improved breeds that are owned by individuals. Even
though there is an artificial insemination center at Woreda level that is establishes to improve
the livestock breed, it is not sufficiently equipped and finished to render adequate service the
community that earns considerable income from livestock production. On the other hand, there is
a shortage of skilled man power in the woreda to provide vet services.

Animal diseases such as anthrax, foot and mouth mastitis, black leg and pastrolosis are the
leading causes for animal death. Secondary data from woreda livestock representative office
also confirms the same fact. Veterinary services are not adequate do to budget constraint and
shortage of drugs. Besides intestinal parasites like liver fluke and external parasites like tick are
agents that contribute to poor health of livestock. Even though 18 veterinary post buildings, the
service render is not sufficient because of shortage of veterinary personal, equipment and drug.