Purpose <p>Soil management practices have significant impacts on soil physical quality and erodibility. However, there is limited scientific attention on the spatial variability of soil erodibility under different tillage and cropping patterns at a watershed scale in the tropics. This study aimed to assess the variability in soil erodibility indices: cone index (CI), water stable aggregates (WSA), saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s), erodibility factor (K), integrated soil erodibility index (SEI), and other soil properties (soil organic matter (SOM), bulk density (BD), available water content (AWC) and total porosity (TP)) under different tillage and cropping patterns.</p> Methods <p>The study evaluated four tillage-cropping combinations: conventional tillage with maize-sorghum intercrop (CT-MS), conventional tillage with groundnut-maize rotation (CT-GM), minimum tillage with maize-sorghum intercrop (MT-MS), and minimum tillage with groundnut-maize rotation (MT-GM) in Borgu-Agwara watershed.</p> Results <p>The results showed that MT-GM significantly increased WSA and K_s at a depth of 0–0.15&#xa0;m, while CI and K decreased significantly compared to other combinations. The SOM accumulation under the minimally tilled combinations (MT-GM and MT-MS) improved soil moisture and soil physical properties including reduction in BD and increased AWC and TP. The SEI increased by 108%, 350%, and 510%, respectively under MT-MS, CT-GM, and CT-MS when compared to MT-GM. The spatial variability in SEI was significantly influenced by changes in BD, AWC, TP, and SOM driven by soil management combinations.</p> Conclusion <p>This study underscored the importance of soil management practices that minimize soil disturbance and legume incorporation to improve soil physical quality and lower erodibility in tropical watersheds.</p>