Technical and institutional attributes constraining the performance of small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia

Abstract

A B S T R A C TSmall-scale irrigation is playing an important role in adapting to climate change, achieving food security, and improving household incomes. The Ethiopian Government considers irrigated agriculture as a primary engine of economic growth and plans to increase the current level of irrigation infrastructure three-fold by the end of 2015. However, there has been concern regarding the performance and management of existing small-scale irrigation. Based on the assessment of 52 small-scale irrigation schemes, and three case study sites, we describe the challenges and interventions required to improve irrigation water management in Ethiopia. Though most schemes are operational, many do not operate at full capacity, due to design failures, excessive siltation, poor agronomic and water management practices, and weak local institutions. In addition to low returns, there is competition for irrigation water between upstream and downstream users, vegetable growers and cereal growers, and between farmers with large irrigable plots and those with small plots. Despite these challenges, our field assessment revealed that small scale irrigation increases crop yields, improves crop diversification, and reduces the risk of crop failure. We emphasize in this paper the need for incentives to improve productivity and minimize conflicts, while enhancing innovation capacity, developing scheme-specific intensification strategies, and promoting collective action. We also describe how benefits from water investments could be substantially increased by overcoming design constraints, * j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / w r r strengthening water user associations, and protecting catchments.

Review on participatory small-scale irrigation schemes and small-scale rainwater harvesting technology development and its contribution to household food security in Ethiopia

“…From this scheme identifications, 56% are by traditional schemes, 19% are small-modern scale schemes and 25% covered by medium to large modern scale schemes (Amede, 2014;Awulachew et al, 2005). Also from this plan is around 560 irrigation potential sites on the major 12 river basins.…”

“…According to Gebremariam and Ghosal (2016), Amede (2014) and Abraham et al (2015), although these challenges can be explained as technical constraints and knowledge gaps are identified (1) inadequate awareness of irrigation water management as in irrigation scheduling techniques, water saving irrigation technologies, water measurement techniques, operation and maintenance of irrigation facilities, (2) Inadequate knowledge on improved and diversified irrigation agronomic practices, (3) Shortage of basic technical knowledge on irrigation pumps, drip irrigation system, sprinkler irrigations, surface and spate irrigation methods, (4) Loss of water through seepage: this is caused by non-durability of the physical structure of river diversion, (5) Scheme based approach rather than area/catchments based approach for the development of small-scale rain water harvesting and small scale irrigation schemes, (6) inadequate baseline data and information on the development of water resources, (7) lack of experience in design, construction and supervision of quality irrigation projects, (8) low productivity of existing irrigation schemes, (9) inadequate community involvement and consultation in scheme planning, construction and implementation of irrigation development, (10) Poor economic background of users for irrigation infrastructure development, to access irrigation technologies and agricultural inputs, where the price increment is not affordable to farmers (Gebremariam and Ghosal, 2016).…”

“…According to Amede (2014) and Hintsa Libseka and Welde (2015), although these future opportunities can be explained as technical freedoms and knowledge opportunity are identified (1) High water potential, (2) High commitment of the Ethiopia government, donors and NGOs to support irrigation management and development activity, (3) Opportunity for implementing multiple use water systems (MUS), with regions coordinating sub-activities. Effective utilization of scheme infrastructure through diversification of uses to meet various needs for water such as domestic, irrigation, livestock and hygiene is the most important, (4) Opportunities for improving knowledge of policy makers, planners, designers.…”

“…Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License climatic attributes provide a greater amount of rainfall than the rest of Africa on average (Amede, 2014). High population growth increases pressure on limited and fragile land resources and leads to unsustainable resource exploitation, resulting in environmental damage.…”

Theory and application of Agricultural Innovation Platforms for improved irrigation scheme management in Southern Africa

“…The agents interact by sending and receiving signals or information, which results in learning, adaptation and the development of feedback systems. This leads to the adaptive capacity of complex systems, then referred to as complex adaptive systems (Allen & Holling, 2010;Anand, Gonzalez, Guichard, Kolasa, & Parrott, 2010;Folke et al, 2002;Olsson, Folke, & Berkes, 2004). The adaptive capacity of these systems allows them to change in response to new information and to recover from external shocks, leading to higher resilience.…”