Adaptation strategies to cope with low, high and untimely floods: Lessons from the Gash spate irrigation system, Sudan

Fadul, E.; Masih, Ilyas; Fraiture, Charlotte de

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2019.02.035

Cited by 11 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Based on data collected from primary and secondary sources, this research assesses the flexibility of traditional, improved traditional and modernized spate irrigation systems, in addition to the different flexible options to cope with unpredictable, uncertain and highly variable water supply. It included more than 100 interviews with farmers, water users' associations (WUAs) and water managers from the Gash spate irrigation system (GAS) in Sudan (Fadul et al, 2019); a literature review of existing technologies in different countries such as Yemen (Mehari Haile et al, 2011;Spate Irrigation Network (SIN), 2013b), Pakistan (Mehari Haile et al, 2011;Khan et al, 2014), Eritrea (Mehari Haile et al, 2011, Iran (Kowsar, 2011), Morocco (Oudra, 2011), Sudan (van Steenbergen et al, 2011a, 2011b, 2011cZenebe et al, 2015), Myanmar (SIN, 2013a) and Ethiopia (Libsekal et al, 2015;Castelli et al, 2018;Tadesse and Dinka, 2018), and information gathered during a regional workshop on farmer to farmer knowledge sharing conducted in 2012 in Sudan (Fadul et al, 2012). The interviews, regional workshops and available literature helped to identify real options during high, low and untimely floods, and to explore flexibility elements in different spate irrigation systems and their capabilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexibility as a strategy to cope with uncertain water supply in spate irrigation*

Fadul¹,

Fraiture

Masih

2021

Irrigation and Drainage

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Unpredictable flash floods in ephemeral rivers are the water source for spate irrigation systems. An important element in the success and sustainability of spate irrigation systems is their ability to cope with highly uncertain water supply and high sediment load. Flexibility is considered one of the key ingredients of coping strategies. However, the concept of flexibility in the context of spate irrigation systems is poorly defined. A framework to assess and operationalize flexibility in spate irrigation is lacking. In this paper we develop a conceptual framework by answering four principal questions and exploring eight flexibility characteristic features and five subfeatures. We explore the flexibility of traditional, improved and modernized spate irrigation systems to cope with high, low and untimely flood events. Flexible spate irrigation systems are highly dependent on system capabilities to deal with uncertainty and enable adjustments to change. The framework can be used as a guideline for water managers, farmers and decision makers for assessing and providing flexibility in spate irrigation systems. K E Y W O R D S flexibility framework, Gash agricultural scheme, real options, unpredictable floods, water supply variability Résumé Les crues soudaines imprévisibles dans les rivières éphémères sont la source d'eau des systèmes d'irrigation de crue. Un élément important pour le succès et la durabilité des systèmes d'irrigation de crue est leur capacité à faire face à un approvisionnement en eau très incertain et à une charge sédimentaire élevée. La flexibilité est considérée comme l'un des ingrédients clés des stratégies d'adaptation. Cependant, le concept de flexibilité dans le contexte des systèmes d'irrigation de crue est mal défini. Un cadre pour évaluer et opérationnaliser la flexibilité dans l'irrigation de crue fait défaut. Dans cet article, nous développons un cadre conceptuel en répondant à quatre questions principales et en explorant huit caractéristiques de flexibilité et cinq sous-caractéristiques. Nous explorons la flexibilité des systèmes d'irrigation de crue traditionnels, * La flexibilité en tant que stratégie pour faire face à un approvisionnement en eau incertain dans l'irrigation de crue.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexibility as a strategy to cope with uncertain water supply in spate irrigation*

Fadul¹,

Fraiture

Masih

2021

Irrigation and Drainage

Self Cite

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“…The coping strategies proposed in the micro (local)-level are: improve soil quality by adding organic matter into the soil, holding rain water and distributing rain water into fields, during the rainy period, the diversification of crops in farmlands, spraying plants with leaf fertilizer, and thicker mulching. The major coping strategies that are adopted by rural households to floods included the changed the planting dates; conservation agriculture; the harvesting of flood water and the practice of flood-proofing (Mabuku et al 2019); diversification of livelihoods, money lender and selling assets and livestock (Bhattacharjee and Behera 2018); pre-flood preparedness and crop management by farmers (Fadul et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing social dimension of water security in villages of Harsin county in the semi-arid agricultural region of Kermanshah in west of Iran

Fatahi

Vahedi

Arayesh

et al. 2021

Sustain. Water Resour. Manag.

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Population growth and low average rainfall are main causes of drought and water-based problems in Iran. The present study assesses the level of resilience and coping capacity against water-based disasters, especially droughts on four villages of Harsin county in the semi-arid agricultural region of Kermanshah in west of Iran. The assessment of social dimensions of water security is considered as a quantitative research in terms of nature and functional in terms of objective. The statistical population of the study consisted of 6068 rural farmers and, using Krejcie and Morgan table, sample size was determined as 361 people, who were chosen via a stratified random sampling method. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed through a panel of experts and its reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (above 0. 84). In this study, the paired comparisons using experts' views to weigh indicators were used. According to the results of this section, infrastructural resilience and drought coping capacity have the highest importance in the concept of social dimension of water security. The study provides recommendations for policy and decision makers to enhance coping strategies at the local level to deal with water-based disasters in the study area.

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“…Previous studies in Sudan evaluated and predicted floods effects over different States. Fadul et al (2019) evaluated the effects of floods on irrigation systems in Kassala State, and they recommended that some effort should be applied to improve technical, financial, and management aspects of floodwater control and mitigation. Routray (2013, 2014) evaluated health risks related to floods in Kassala State.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment and prediction of land-use/land-cover change around Blue Nile and White Nile due to flood hazards in Khartoum, Sudan, based on geospatial analysis

El-Hamid

Kaloop

Abdalla

et al. 2021

Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk

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Rising floodwaters in the Blue Nile (BN) and White Nile (WN) tributaries continually affects people's lives and the safety of infrastructures in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Recently, floods have covered a wide area of Khartoum and destroyed many buildings and bridges. We conducted this study to evaluate and predict the flood effects around BN and WN in Khartoum to make recommendations in view of upcoming flood disasters. Land-use/ land-cover (LULC) changes after floods that occurred in 2014, 2016, and 2020 were evaluated and LULC was predicted for 2024 by applying a combination of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information-system (GIS) techniques. We also evaluated the expected hazard due to floods. Our results showed that the agricultural, built-up, and water changes around BN were 0.30%, 0.25%, and 0.05%, respectively, for the period 2014-2016, and, that changes for the period 2016-2020 were 3.38%, 3.68%, and 7.28%, respectively. Correspondingly, the agricultural, built-up, and water changes around WN were 5.56%, 3.26%, and 8.02% during 2014-2016 and 13.79%, 5.62%, and 21.40% during 2016-2020. The change estimation indicates that the most flood effects in the region occurred around WN, possibly covering the whole areal extent of Khartoum city. The area covered by waterbodies may decrease by 4.18% (BN) and 20.35% (WN) during 2020-2024, based on RS-GIS evaluation, but hydraulic evaluation shows that the expected hazard due to floods in Khartoum is high. Thus, flood-risk assessments should take into account both physical hazard and the distribution of the population across the whole area of Khartoum.

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Adaptation strategies to cope with low, high and untimely floods: Lessons from the Gash spate irrigation system, Sudan

Cited by 11 publications

References 23 publications

Flexibility as a strategy to cope with uncertain water supply in spate irrigation*

Flexibility as a strategy to cope with uncertain water supply in spate irrigation*

Assessing social dimension of water security in villages of Harsin county in the semi-arid agricultural region of Kermanshah in west of Iran

Assessment and prediction of land-use/land-cover change around Blue Nile and White Nile due to flood hazards in Khartoum, Sudan, based on geospatial analysis

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