The Changing Faces of Farmer-Led Irrigation: Lessons from Dynamic Irrigation Trajectories in Kenya and Zimbabwe

Duker, Annelieke; Maseko, Sambulisiwe; Moyo, Mehluli A.; Karimba, Benson Mutuma; Bolding, Alex; Prasad, Pooja; Fraiture, Charlotte de; Zaag, Pieter van der

doi:10.1080/00220388.2023.2204176

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 20 publications

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“…Over the past decade, multiple studies have investigated the dynamics of FLID and tried to estimate or extrapolate numbers to regional or national scales. Studies usually involved interviews (De Bont, Komakech, et al, 2019;Duker et al, 2023) combined with desk studies (Hornun & Bolwig, 2020), comparing governmental statistics with import numbers on pumps, for example (de Fraiture & Giordano, 2014;Namara et al, 2014;Woodhouse et al, 2017a), or participatory mapping with farmers and extension workers (Beekman et al, 2014a). Although anecdotal and sometimes on relatively small scales (e.g., tens of interviews or hectares), these studies show that the extent and activities of farmer-led irrigation are expanding and that the total irrigated area is often more significant than that of the public irrigation schemes.…”

Section: Estimating the Extent Of Smallholder Irrigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncharted territory: mapping diverse and dispersed smallholder irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa through remote sensing

Weitkamp

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Irrigation is critical for intensifying and expanding agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Policymakers increasingly use remote sensing-based techniques to identify previously unknown irrigated areas. As smallholder irrigation practices in SSA vary widely depending on the type of crops, plot sizes, irrigation methods and landscapes, how maps are made that depict their extent becomes more important. We have identified methodological choices in at least eight essential domains for classification or irrigated agriculture sampling design, labelling protocol sets of classes, field data collection, predictor variables, algorithm adequacy, input variables, accuracy assessment, map seasonality, and code and data sharing.This study demonstrates and systematises how these choices affect classification in a reporting framework. We found that none of the reviewed articles sufficiently documented all classification steps when applying the framework. Although the reasons for not reporting are unknown, the lack of explicitly made choices hampers a proper evaluation of irrigated agriculture's extent, particularly smallholder irrigation. Ultimately, this may reinforce the impression that smallholder irrigation is irrelevant because it does not appear on maps.Finally, we conclude that sharing extensively documented irrigation mapping methodologies promotes the adoption of best practices across different regions or countries. Policymakers and practitioners can learn from successful experiences and avoid repeating mistakes made in other contexts. This approach advances irrigation practices worldwide by fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange.

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Section: Estimating the Extent Of Smallholder Irrigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncharted territory: mapping diverse and dispersed smallholder irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa through remote sensing

Weitkamp

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Comparing the impacts of different irrigation systems on the livelihoods of women and youth: evidence from clustered data in Ghana

Katic

2024

Water International

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From few large to many small investments: lessons for adaptive irrigation development in an uncertain world

Prasad,

Duker,

Velasquez

et al. 2024

Front. Water

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Conventional approaches to irrigation development involve large lumpsum investments in big infrastructure that cannot adapt to changing climate and socio-economic conditions. There is an urgent need for alternative ways of investing in smallholder irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that are adaptive and avoid capital lock-in. Adaptive Investment Pathways (AdIP), inspired by the Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways (DAPP) concept, proposes stepwise investments to support smallholder irrigation development. AdIP builds resilience to future shocks through dynamic and flexible investment plans instead of investing in single static solutions. To develop an empirical grounding for operationalizing AdIP, we draw lessons from three case studies representing different stages of irrigation development along shallow sand river aquifers in Kenya and Zimbabwe. We retrospectively analyse the nature of investments at farm and landscape scales, and the type of risks and opportunities that farmers respond to. We find that in face of risks, farmers diversify their livelihoods, make small investments incrementally especially in response to opportunities and risks created by external triggers, and pause or reorient activity when they reach saturation points, i.e., biophysical or socio-political limits to their development objective, here irrigation development. Governments and external agencies can support smallholder irrigation development in SSA through targeted landscape scale investments that address saturation points faced by smallholders. This requires a robust participatory monitoring framework to identify and respond to saturation points, and a re-thinking of financing mechanisms which do not measure progress against a fixed schedule of investments, but instead measure continuous progress towards the development objective.

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The Changing Faces of Farmer-Led Irrigation: Lessons from Dynamic Irrigation Trajectories in Kenya and Zimbabwe

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

Uncharted territory: mapping diverse and dispersed smallholder irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa through remote sensing

Uncharted territory: mapping diverse and dispersed smallholder irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa through remote sensing

Comparing the impacts of different irrigation systems on the livelihoods of women and youth: evidence from clustered data in Ghana

From few large to many small investments: lessons for adaptive irrigation development in an uncertain world

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