Agriculture is the leading sector in the Ethiopian economy, more than 80% employment, 47.7% of the total GDP, as compared to 13.3% from industry and 39 % from other services. This sector is highly dependent on Soil and water resources which are our most important natural resource. Soil as the living skin of the Earth is one of the valuable natural resources gifted by nature for sustenance of life. Soils have functions such as, food and other biomass production, Environmental Interaction (storage, filtering, and transformation ), Biological habitat and gene pool, Source of raw materials, Physical and cultural heritage, and Platform for man-made structures: buildings, highways furthermore, soil plays a major role in the distribution of plants, water and nutrients in interested environments. Though knowledge about the distribution and properties of soils as well as water is a key issue to support sustainable land and water management, the conjunction of high population growth and the outdated technology has resulted in creating a serious dichotomy between means and ends of using soil and water resources.

The effect of mismanagement of land and water recourses is manifested in recurring droughts and famines in these ecological 5 sensitive parts of the country. These areas require rehabilitation and proper management using appropriate technologies, particularly those relating to the land use and conservation of soil and water resources. The most limiting factor in the agricultural productivity of the country is soil fertility and moisture. This program (Soil Resources and Watershed Management) has been started in 2014 at Werabe University, The program can significantly contribute to undertake research and community service on soil and water conservation, integrated watershed management, water harvesting, soil fertility management, land use planning, small scheme irrigation and the like courses to meet higher education goal of the country.