There is no doubt that land is a scarce resource. therefore, there is need to use wisely. one of the ways is through improving the land so that it can produce a lot. in countries like china , there are standard indicators on the how land is used for both rural and urban settlements. the land used for water conservancy and transport facility is influenced by regional and governmental policies. therefore, it is important to identify ways on improving land efficiency (huang, hong and liang, 2009). There are many ways in which the land efficiency can be improved. it is especially the case when there is population growth. people use the land for building homes, schools, recreational parks and even forests. land is also needed for agricultural purposes. nebaraska is one of the areas that has high demand for land use. the demand for food is increasing and that is putting pressure on the natural resources. it is, therefore, important to make changes to help address the issues and move towards a sustainable food production and agriculture. there are several principles to help in the change towards a sustainable food and agriculture. the principles help in getting more out of land resources.
Natural Resources should be used with a lot of care to ensure that they are used as required. improving the livelihood of the rural areas is another principle that has to be put into in to consideration in order to have sustainable agriculture. it is in the rural areas where agriculture is being practiced the most. thus, thus land is being exposed to hazards. having a sustainable land use is necessary to have sustainability. land has to be used in such a way that it improves the livelihoods of people and not cause them harm . the only way to achieve that is through land efficiency. efficiency is when the land is used to ensure that it gets its full potential. some of the ways could be to improving the land by using different method. tying out new things will help a lot to improve the land resources. there has been expansion of the built up land is one of the features of land use changes. it is such actions that have led to the inefficient land use and built up land vacancy (chen, chen,Xu, & Tian, 2015) . Nebraska has a duty to control any expansion of the built up land. it is the only way to promoted land use.
Land Policy
Federal land policy refers to the ownership and management of land that is owned by the government. about 95 % of the land in nebraka is privately owned. the feral government had 635 million acres of land by 2012. such land is used for recreation, grazing, and development of natural resources. Nebraska is ranked 36th in the federal land ownership. the federal land policy is used in managing oil and gas, minerals, wildlife and fish, timber and other natural resources. the land management policies are is highly debated because of the environmental, economic and social impact. Nebraska has 49.03 million acres out of which 1.12% belongs to the federal government.
Agricultural Land
every country has a portion of land that is set aside or agricultural a use. nebraska has the highest value of agricultural land resources in the united states. there is more than 95% of the land that has been put to agricultural use. it has the highest percentage in all the states. over the years, the has been a growth in the population which has led to the demand agricultural products. it is necessary to make the decision of the land by using land economics. as such , there is need to conduct further study on land issues. there are college programs which are emerging in areas like real estate, business, and agriculture. all these are in a bid to have educational inland issues. inadequacy of land efficiency has become a major problem the whole world.
Land Use
land use is considered an environmental issue. it is becoming an import in every part of the world. worldwide changes to framlands, forests, and waterways which are being driven by the requirement to provide fiber, food, water, and shelter to the six billion people. the urban areas, pastures and global cropland have expanded over the years. there are also increases in the share of plant resources. all these changes have undermined the ecosystem capacity. the ecosystem is no longer able to maintain forest resources, food production, regulate air quality and maintain fresh water. it has become a challenge to maintain the human needs and the biosphere.
there are many ways in which land is used in nebraska. coal mining is done in dunbar, and clay is produced to help in manufacturing tile and clay. the coal resources in Nebraska are limited compared to its production. there is large acre of nebraska land that is used in cultivating corn, alfafa and wheat and other crops. there is also land used for hay production and grazing. tree percent is occupied by the planted and natural forest. a large percentage of nebraska land is occupied by airports, public roads, farmstead, stock yards, parks, game preserves, churches, cemeteries, athletic fields, irrigation works and industries.
Land Ownership
The nebraska land was originally owned by the Indians. the lakes and streams were their life necessities. the people who followed the Indians operated differently. the main purpose of the peep who settled after the Indians was to develop the country based on private ownership. the public domain was sectioned by the federal government before settlement. however, there was no inventory made of the allocated resources. the lack of inventory led to the scramble for land. thus, the land went into private ownership. the state owns several acres of land including school, recreational centers, fish hatchery areas, wildlife reserves and forest reserves. there is only a small percentage of land that is in the counties possession through the tax delinquency. a large percentage of land is privately owned. there has been a trend towards the collective ownership of land.
Costly Experience
the land has been destroyed by the settle who wanted to use the land to establish homes. there is of some land in distress. not all land is suitable for cultivation. using the land wrongly has led to improverished soil. the state now has the problem of adjusting to the agricultural procedure., tax schedule and tax delinquency.
one of the principles is improving the efficiency in the use of resources, conservation of the natural resources, enhancing resilience, improving the livelihood of the rural areas and governance. first and foremost, there is a need to improve the efficiency. when the land is put to good use . there is no doubt that land will be used to the maximum. thus, there will be enough for to go around. the second principle is in conserving the natural resources. it is necessary to preserve the natural resources to ensure that they only provide what is required.
land ownership
long ago, nebraska’s land was owned by the Indians. they used the land collectively. there was nothing like public or private property. the land was meant for communal use. however, as more and more people migrated to nebraska the Indians lost the control of the land. the inhabitant has different ways use the land. they decided to use the land for building houses and even agriculture among other activities.
| Nebraska | South dakota | |||
| agency | Acres owned | Percentage owned | Acres owned | Percentage owned |
| U.S forest service | 352,463 | 64.16% | 2,017,435 | 76.24% |
| U.S national park service | 5,650 | 1.03% | 141,312 | 5.34% |
| U.S fish and wildlife service | 173,614 | 31.6% | 205,128 | 7.75% |
| U.S bureau of land management | 6,354 | 1.16% | 274,437 | 10.37% |
| U.S department of defense | 11,265 | 2.05% | 7,929 | 0.3% |
| Total federal land | 549,346 | 100% | 2,646,241 | 100% |
source: congressional research service
Land Usage
there are different ways that the Nebraska is utilized. it is used for recreation, ,building homes and for economic purpose. land use refers to the human employment of land. habitat is important in wildlife and it is related to and use. the habitat has been changed over long periods even though land usage changes, there is still need to have quantitative methods to evaluate the habitat.
Recreation
there is a percentage of Nebraska land used for recreation. they are used for national parks, state recreation . there are five national parks, three national forests, three national monuments and five national historic trails. all these occupy nebraska’s land resource.
economic activity
land is also used for economic activity. there are many ways in which land can be used to generate income for the country. one of those ways is through oil and gas. nebraska has private mining companies . there has been increasing competition in land and it is crucial for there to be efficient supply of ecosystems services. Nebraska utilizes its natural resources to make money from oil and gas. the oil and gas is sector is one of the ways in which nebraka is making huge amount of income. .
human activities effect on land
Human activities affects quantity, distribution and even the chemical quality of the water resources. human activities greatly affects the ground water interaction especially when the surface of the water is broad. human effects on land is of great concern. To show to what extent human activity affect water resources, both the structures and the features relate to the human activities are visible on different parts of the landscape. human activities affect both the quality and quantity of water resources. the human effects re felt on a variety of time and space scales.
Agricultural Development
Agriculture is the reason for the landscape modifications all over the world. one of the ways that agriculture affects landscape is through tillage. land tillage changes the land surface.thus, it affects delivery of water, ground water recharge, and evapotranspiration. All of these processes either directly or indirectly affect the land resources. the processes by the human beings affect the surface water the ground water. agriculturalists know of the effect that agriculture brings on the water resources. as a result, agriculturalists have identified the methods that will help alleviate such problems.
agricultural development agriculture is the main reason for the modifications in the landscapes all over the world. tilling the land changes its runoff characteristics of land. tillage affects the delivery of water. and evapotranspiration. these processes affect the ground water interaction directly or indirectly. agriculturalists know of the effects of the agricultural and thus come up with ways to help alleviate them. Tillage practices are modified to help in water retention in soils. it also minimizes soil erosion.
IRRIGATION SYSTEMS
the Surface-water irrigation is one of the human activities on land surface. over the years , there has been an increase in the number of irrigation systems. in the 1840s, the number of irrigation systems have increased in the western United States. additionally , the surface-water irrigation are like the network of canals of different sizes and those that are used to transport water. there are also drainage systems that are used in carrying water that is not used by plants.
The drainage system includes the underground drains. most of the irrigation systems that were previously used on surface water is also used on ground water. The ground water is used to for water irrigation. in some scenarios, the water is used in the canals. the quantities of water from a few inches to 20 inches of water every year. the water quantity depends on local conditions on the area with crops. In most irrigated areas, there are abot about 75 percent of applied water being is lost through evapotranspiration. such water is retained in the plants. The water that remains is infiltrated in the soil zone to help with recharging the ground water. the water could also be returned to the surface-water through a drainage system.
The irrigation water quantity used in recharging ground is compared to the recharge that comes from precipitation. it is due to the fact that the large irrigation systems are in the areas with low natural recharge and low precipitation. due to that, the large volume of recharge can make the water table to go up and thus reach the land surface in and cause waterlogging. For this reason, the drainage systems maintain the water level to go below the crops root zone. , it will go below to about 4 feet under the land surface. a permanent increase in water table that results from continuous recharge of the irrigation return results in more outflow of the ground water compared to the surface-water body.
agricultural chemicals
the land surface is also affected to the agricultural chemicals. when fertilizers and pesticides on the crops land can result into increase of contaminants to the water resources. there are some pesticides that are slightly soluble in water. such pesticides get absorbed into the soil particles. they do not remain in solution. they have compounds that will cause ground water contamination. there are those pesticides that cannot be easily detected but they have high concentrations in both surface water and ground water. one of the commonly used pesticide is ammonium. it is present in both manure and fertilizer and is soluble in water.
when the concentration of ammonium increases, it can lead to nitrification. ammonium is found in the surface water and ground water that is associated with agricultural lands . additionally, the sources of water contamination are commonly associated with the agricultural areas like feedlots. it is immaterial if the first contamination is found in surface water or ground water. it is because there is a close interaction of surface water and ground water.
the contaminants in streams affect the quality of the ground water it is especially true when the streams go to the ground water. floods make the stream to be a bank storage. water becomes contaminated can be as a result of landfills, fluid storage tanks, septic tanks, and industrial lagoons. in case the contaminants are soluble, then they will be moved to the ground water. if there is a low concentration of the ground water, then the land will not be affected that much due to the water. it I sneceayr tocoem up wit way to nseu the the in n only a sml amoun t ogrotu n on the
it will affect the quality of the surface water body. for flat land surfaces the is need or drainage to ensure that the land is ready for agricultural developments. drainage is done by constructing ditches. drainage of the lakes will change the ground water distribution. it can result into changes in the chemical processes in that occur in the wetlands. the changes can also affect the baseflow to streams which in turn will affect the riverine ecosystems. drainage will also affect the water holding capacity of the surface runoffs. the runoffs that result from drainage system will reduce the ground water recharge.
the decreased recharge of the ground water leads to flooding. drainage is common in the areas with extensive wetlands like glacial-lake landscapes. having artificial drainage systems is common in areas where there are wetlands because of the these areas are deep organic soils which are suitable for agriculture. there is more than 50 percent of the wetland areas that has been destroyed in the upper midwest areas. the destruction in iowa is more than 90 percent. there are those wetlands that were destroyed by drainage and some were destroyed by filling.
it is necessary to store water in reservoir to prevent the steam flow. the stem flow can be highly v0ariable. there are those times when it is abundant but occur when the water is not required. the steam flow varies depending on the weather patterns. the reservoirs are affected when there is ground water. the reservoirs can cause water to rise and the change can be permanent. when the water rises, it can cause damage even to a far distance from the reservoir.
removal of the natural vegetation
in order for the land to be available for agricultural purpose and urban growth, there is need to cut down the forests and even remove vegetation. there is no doubt that forests play a vital role in the hydrologic regime. therefore, deforestation will increase the storm runoff and decrease evapotranspiration. it also causes oil erosion. deforestation will also lead to infiltration to ground. an increase in soil erosion and the storm runoff will lead to the base flow of streams. cutting off the riparian vegetation can lead increased streamflow. the riparian vegetation is important because they protect the land from soil erosion, , help with flow mitigation, water maintenance and preservation in the aquatic habitat. therefore by destroying the riparian vegetation, means that there land will be exposed to soil erosion, flood and aquatic habitat. therefore, it is necessary to preserve the riparian vegetation since cutting it off will have mean that the land will be affected. the vegetation are important but human beings remove them without knowing that they are destroying the land.
Nebraska has a land area of about 77,510 square miles. out of this 495 square miles is the river surface , 230 square miles is intermittent lakes and 163 square miles is lake and reservoir surface. the primary land resources in nebrasaka are soil and groundwater.
Nebraska seeks to improve its land use efficiency. producers can get remain in agriculture by integrating cattle.
Nebraska has the intensively irrigate and cultivated land in the country. as a result, there has been contamination to the ground water due to the chemicals. Nebraska has 23 natural resources districts in an attempt to do ground water management plan has monitor the levels of contaminants.
there are several ways on how nebraska can improve the land use efficiency. it can be used for agricultural , recreation and other economic activities.
the project seek to analyze the utilization of nebraska land resources with regard to improving the land use efficiency.the agencies that are vital in the national resource inventory are the nebraska municipalities, national resources inventory, congress and environment control. congress has the role of establishing land use regulations. the nebraska environmetal control control has the duty of preparing the implementation plans. nebraska municipalities have to determine the process that is needed to dispose water. the nebraska water resources association is responsible for preserving and managing water resources. cell 3,1 nebraska state constitution delivers to the property tax laws. the Nebraska state provides the required criteria for the lad evaluation tax laws.
every farmland has different methods to valued differently depending on the type of soil. thaccording to the research conducted by jim jansen ad roger Wilson (2016), there are agricultural land in nebraska was valued at $3,135. pivot irrigated land was the most expensive since it as valued at $6,990. the nontillable grazing land was the cheapest going for $980. it shows that the agricultural land has is highly priced. it is because of the benefits that it has to offer. agricultural land offers people with a way to produce food. no nation can survive without food. as such, it one of the way in which
in cell 6,5, the Nebraska farm delivers to the nebraska state legislature. in cell 1,12 the property law delivery to the cell equalization asses the tax implemented. the commission takes data from property tax laws. the in cell 10,5 the nebraska supreme court to nebraska state legislature , the supreme court is responsible for delivering the state legislature. in cell 2,1, changes in land value to the property tax laws, the property tax laws have to be informed of the changes in the farm’s value. even if the land does not have to increase only when the property tax increases. agricultural land is valued depending on the market value. even though the problem of rural land tenure is a main category of agricultural and rural development. the issue of agrarian transformation is something that has to be looked into from a broad and long-term perspective.
in cell 8,9, it shows that there is government delivery to the supreme court. the judicial system of nebraska is elected by all the divisions in the government. thus, the government will be in position once the decision has been made by all the divisions it means that there will not be any kind of biases. in cell 8,1 the government delivery to agricultural policy. the government is responsible for making decisions in the agricultural policy. there is no doubt that the agricultural policy influence on the farmers. in cell 5,4 the agricultural development bank provides credit to the farmers and financial services. farmers can improve their land because of the loans that they receive from the agricultural development bank. in cell 8,1, the industry delivery to the agricultural users in the industry can provide the agricultural users with productions. it will make it a lot easier for the farmers to get the materials they need to in cell 3,9 the public delivery to supreme court thus it provides the reserve requirements needed for agricultural development. the public delivery ensures that the public has everything they need to improve their land.
The reform was designed in terms of distribution of private land to the tiller; prohibitions on transfer-of-use rights by sale, exchange, succession, mortgage or lease, except upon death and only then to a wife, husband or children of the deceased. Current land tenure and problems thereof: After downfall of the Derge, Transitional Government of Ethiopia had declared that the right to ownership of rural and urban land, as well as of all natural resources, is exclusively vested in the state and in the people of Ethiopia. “Land is a common property of the Nations, Nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or other means of exchange”. There was a consensus that the current system, because it does not guarantee security of tenure and undermines incentives, has detrimental effects on agricultural productivity and natural resource conservation, does not provide incenti ves for investment in improvements.
The land tenure system is a been a controversial issue in Ethiopia: The advocates of the existing land policy believe that if the farmers are given the right to own land privately and are allowed to sell, many farmers will become landless and exposed to various hardships. The critics argues that the existing land tenure arrangements has contributed towards increased degradation of farmers’ land resulting in soil erosion and poor productivity level of various crops. Recent World Bank report says, strengthening people right to own land and secure land tenure is a precondition for productivity increases in agriculture.
Farmers with ow nership right and secure land tenure are more likely to make long-term investment in their land. Farm income: The main sources of incom e for the farmer were derived from both farm and non-farm activities. Based on the existing farm situation and prevailing price levels, farmers of HIG and LIG were obtaining 4491 and 2176 birr as gross margin to meet all expenses such as subsistence requirements, clothing, land tax, hiring of labor and other variable input expenses etc. (Table 1).
The LIG farm income was not covering all his expenses. So, the farmer in this group is expected to reduce either the variable costs or subsistence requirements, which may lead to undernourishm ent. The LIG farmer to cover his expenses needs additional income from non-farm activities. Among the various types of farm activities (Data not shown) that are currently performed by the farmer, wheat contributed 33 per cent of farm income. Though the contribution of livestock and eucalyptus tree enterprises was very small yet this was an additional source of farm income. The income of the farming population closely follows the patterns observed for size of holdings. When disaggregated by cropping pattern, wheat ensured highest per capita household income follow ed by teff. Hence, availability of land and crops grown were major factors determining the household income.
The rather low level of income of Farm productivity: The low level of income of farm households is a result of both the small size of landholding and the low level of productivity in Ethiopian agriculture. As can be seen from Table 2, average cash income per hectare of cultivated land (an indicator of land productivity) averages Br 1173 and Br 454 on HIG and LIG holding respectively. Average gross margin per labor force employed and available (a proxy measure of labor productivity) stands at Br1.45 & 1.05 /manhour on HIG and Br 1.12 & 0.67 on LIG holdings. This again is a clear indication of the close link between size of holding and labor productivity in Ethiopian. Coming to the farm size and household food security, the average holding size in the study zone (0.78 hectares) was not enough to produce sufficient food for their families. Optimal land management practices: About two-third of land area is regarded to be potentially suitable for agricultural production and less than 10 per cent of this potential land has been cultivated which is estimated as about 7 million hectares in any one-crop season. Around 95 per cent of the cultivated land is under smallholder farming and the rest under state/commercial farms.
The country has not been self sufficient in food and chronically dependent on food aid. Of various reasons responsible for food deficit, low/poor land productivity is the most crucial. The average yield for grain crops has remained around 11 quintals per hectare. This meager land productivity is not because of the poor soil fertility rather as a result of ill management of the limiting factor of production i.e. land. The issue of tenure form of ownership. One of the key issues related to land tenure is the degree to which the tenure arrangement encourages sustainable farm practices. It is generally believed that a more secure tenure system provides the necessary incentives for farmers to manage their land m ore efficiently and invest in land improvement. Assessment of better land management is evaluated in relation to farm practices such as crop rotation, terracing, fallowing and tree planting. In general, the prevailing land management practice does not encourage agricultural sustainability in the country. Therefore, security of tenure is more important than those of plot size or land availability. Farm produc tivity: The optimal land management practices for both income groups showed a significant change in the production pattern, resource use, farm income and returns to farm resources over the current practices. The model favored wheat for both incom e groups.
The result is compatible with farmers’ enterprise prioritization for food security goals together with the consideration of production per unit area. Marginal Value Product of Major Resources under optimal farm practices: The marginal value of land is Birr 1305 and 960 per hectare for HIG and LIG, respectively. The marginal value of land for LIG was sm all compared to HIG, due to the inadequacy of capital available for farmers in the LIG hindering the cultivation of highly productive crops. Working capital has marginal value of Birr 1.837 and 2.7 for HIG and LIG respectively. Labor has marginal value of 0.24 per person per hour. The size of the holding is of considerable importance. With minor exceptions, larger size the holding is of considerable importance. Wi th minor exceptions, larger size holdings perform better than smaller size holdings. The farmers’ involvement in land transactions despite restrictions by law suggests that a suitable land policy will facilitate the operation of formal land markets to enable better allocation of this important resource. A conducive environment must be created to encourage rural land markets in view of their role in im proving resource allocation, efficiency, productivity and mobility. Policy-makers and agricultural development experts must give serious consideration to the fact that there is limited room for intensification with the prevailing mini-plots operated by subsistence farms.
Conclusion
in conclusion, to improve land efficiency requires that there is a lot of work to be done. there are problems that have to be addressed in order to have a sustainable land use. some of the problems include agricultural chemicals, irrigation systems and human activities . human activities are the actions of people that affect the land surface. irrigation systems also affect the land. getting rid of these problems will help the Nebraska imp to increase the value of land. it is, therefore, important to preserve land to take care of the problems that the nebraska is facing. it will there is no doubt that nebraska has done a lot to ensure that there is land use efficiency. Nebraska still has a lot to do when it comes to improving their land. people cannot live without land , it is necessary to it is important that land is used in the right way. it is the only way in which land will remain productive and at the same time provide value to residents. Nebraska is a place with a lot of potential and thus the land is one of the ways to ensure that the state make good use of the natural resources. the natural resources should not be misused if the land is to achieve its full potential.
The study provides a hint that the issues that face by Nebraskan agriculture is related to the landholding system , even though not all the time. the problem of tenure security is a vital consideration more than the type of ownership. therefore, the government action should be to improve the tenure security and the land rights transferability. by doing so, it can improve land productivity and rural investment. The size of the holding is also an important consideration. Wi there should only be minor exceptions, the larger size holding should be of importance. therefore, it is important that land be utilized in order to improve its efficiency. there is stil0l need to conduct further research on land use efficiency. if utilized well, land can be a great resource to human beings.
References
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