Assessing potential land suitable for surface irrigation using groundwater in Ethiopia

Abstract

Although Ethiopia has abundant land for irrigation, only a fraction of its potential land is being utilized. This study evaluates suitability of lands for irrigation using groundwater in Ethiopia using GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) techniques in order to enhance the country's agricultural industry. Key factors that significantly affect irrigation suitability evaluated in this study include physical land features (land use, soil, and slope), climate (rainfall and evapotranspiration), and market access (proximity to roads and access to market). These factors were weighted using a pair-wise comparison matrix, then reclassified and overlaid to identify suitable areas for groundwater irrigation using a 1-km grid. Groundwater data from the British Geological Survey were used to estimate the groundwater potential, which indicates the corresponding irrigation potential for major crops. Results indicated that more than 6 million ha of land are suitable for irrigation in Ethiopia. A large portion of the irrigable land is located in the Abbay, Rift Valley, Omo Ghibe, and Awash River basins. These basins have access to shallow groundwater (i.e., depth of groundwater less than 20 m from the surface) making it easier to extract. The comparison between available groundwater and total crop water requirements indicate that groundwater alone may not be sufficient to supply all suitable land. The study estimates that only 8% of the suitable land can be irrigated with the available shallow groundwater. However, groundwater is a viable option for supplementing surface water resources for irrigation in several basins in the country

Assessment of Suitable Areas for Home Gardens for Irrigation Potential, Water Availability, and Water-Lifting Technologies

“…MCE technique, integrated with geographic information system (GIS), is an emerging approach for optimal decision-making and involves multiple spatially variable criteria [32,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. Various researchers worldwide applied MCE explicitly for irrigation, agriculture and other environmental science [14,16,29,[44][45][46][47][48][49][50]. There are several methods of combining factors for optimal decisions.…”

“…Groundwater use for irrigation, in Ethiopia, is constrained by technology, development and operational cost and lack of understandings of the resource dynamics [5,16]. Assessing available water potential and identifying areas where the potential water support irrigated agriculture is vital to increasing water productivity and economical use of land [17,18].…”

Impact of Climate Change on Streamflow Hydrology in Headwater Catchments of the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

“…The IPCC indicated Africa as one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change and climate variability [10]. Ethiopia is one of the African countries whose economy is largely dependent on agriculture [11][12][13]. Therefore, the country's economy is subjected to a direct impact of climate change.…”

“…The uncertainty of the availability of water resources will affect agricultural production, challenge socio-economic systems, and threaten environmental sustainability by increasing use of non-recyclable resources to feed the growing population. The effect of climate change will be significant particularly in developing countries where their economy is heavily dependent on agricultural production [10,11]. The IPCC indicated Africa as one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change and climate variability [10].…”

Business model scenarios and suitability: smallholder solar pump-based irrigation in Ethiopia. Agricultural Water Management – Making a Business Case for Smallholders

“…This may be considered in relation to recent work carried out by the ILSSI project, which suggests that only 8% of the suitable land in Ethiopia can be irrigated with groundwater alone. However, supplementing surface water resources for irrigation is a viable option and could bring the irrigation potential to 6 Mha (Worqlul et al 2017).…”