Performance of Small‐Scale Water Management Interventions on Crop Yield, Water Use and Productivity in Three Agro‐Ecologies of Malawi

Abstract

Agricultural water management interventions play a critical role in mitigating hunger during droughts and dry seasons in southern Africa. A study was conducted in Malawi to compare the performance of improved agricultural water management interventions with traditional water management practices to assess the performance of the interventions on crop yield and water use. The study used questionnaires and focused group discussions to collect data from farmers and key informants. The results showed significant gains using regulated surface irrigation compared with unregulated surface irrigation. The results showed that yield increases of 33 and 37% for onion and tomato respectively were obtained from wetland seepage irrigation compared with upland cultivation. Treadle pump irrigation increased crop production by 5-54% compared with water can irrigation. Treadle pumps also increased gross and net incomes by ≥12%, suggesting that farmers using the treadle pump were able to realize higher incomes across all crop enterprises compared with farmers using water cans. However, there is a dire need to improve the efficiency of the surface irrigation systems for rice production because the water applied was about two to three times the gross irrigation requirement which could result in environmental degradation through increased salinity and waterlogging. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. RÉSUMÉLes interventions dans la gestion des eaux agricoles jouent un rôle essentiel dans l'atténuation de la faim pendant les sécheresses et les saisons sèches de l'Afrique australe. Une étude a été menée au Malawi pour comparer la performance de l'amélioration des interventions de gestion des eaux agricoles aux pratiques de gestion traditionnelle sur des critères de rendement des cultures et d'utilisation de l'eau. L'étude a utilisé des questionnaires et des discussions de groupe ciblées pour collecter des données auprès des agriculteurs et des informateurs clés. Les résultats ont montré des gains importants dans le rendement des cultures, le revenu des agriculteurs et la productivité de l'utilisation de l'eau. Les résultats ont montré des gains significatifs en utilisant l'irrigation de surface régulée par rapport à l'irrigation de surface non régulée. Les résultats ont montré que les augmentations de rendement de 33 et 37% pour l'oignon et la tomate ont été respectivement obtenues sur les parcelles en zones humides par rapport à la culture sur les hautes terres. L'irrigation par la pompe à pédales a augmenté la production agricole de 5 à 54% par rapport à l'irrigation conventionnelle. Les pompes à pédales ont également augmenté les revenus bruts et nets par >12%, ce qui suggère que les agriculteurs utilisant la pompe à pédales ont pu réaliser des revenus plus élevés dans toutes les cultures par rapport aux agriculteurs qui utilisent des bidons d'eau. Cependant, il y a un besoin urgent d'améliorer l'efficacité des systèmes d'irrigation de surface pour la production de riz parce que l'eau appliquée était d'environ deux à trois

Evaluating the Effect of Farmers’ Participation in Irrigation Management on Farm Productivity and Profitability in the Mubuku Irrigation Scheme, Uganda

“…Based on the RAP definition, the assigned weights to variables correspond to their potential positive effect on system performance, such as irrigation-efficient management at the scheme level. In order to set standard weights for practices and align them to the overall objective of Mubuku scheme, a literature review is undertaken, which is followed by validation through the local expert pool [36][37][38][39][40]. While considering the weights according to RAP, the most important piece of criteria was the direct effect on improved water delivery service.…”

Impact of Rainwater Harvesting on Hydrological Processes in a Fragile Watershed of South Asia

“…In this context, agricultural water management (AWM) interventions have attracted attention in addressing risks in small-scale production systems in Asia and Africa (de Fraiture et al 2010;Gordon et al 2010;Garg et al 2011;Kadyampakeni et al 2015;Anantha and Wani 2016;Adimassu et al 2017;Abera et al 2019). The focus has been on landscape restoration through the constructing of water infiltration structures as well as biological measures (Adimassu et al 2017;Abera et al 2019;Kato et al 2019;FAO 2020;Anantha et al 2021b).…”

Impact of agriculture water management interventions on hydrological processes in a fragile watershed of Western India

“…In this context, water management interventions have gained enormous attention to address risks in small scale production systems (de Fraiture et al ., 2010;Gordon et al ., 2010;Garg et al ., 2011;Kadyampakeni et al ., 2015;Anantha and Wani, 2016). Adopting a holistic resource management approach through integrated watershed development has paid rich dividends in rainfed areas and proved that this approach is capable of addressing many technological, natural, social and environmental issues in the dryland ecosystems (Waniet al ., 2003(Waniet al ., , 2011a(Waniet al ., , 2011bRockstrom et al ., 2010;Garget al ., 2011Garget al ., , 2012Garg and Wani, 2012;Anantha and Wani, 2016).…”