Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:30:42.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

PERFORMANCE OF IRRIGATION: AN ASSESSMENT AT DIFFERENT SCALES IN ETHIOPIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2011

SELESHI BEKELE AWULACHEW  and
MEKONNEN AYANA
SELESHI BEKELE AWULACHEW*
Affiliation:
International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Ethiopia, P.O.Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
MEKONNEN AYANA
Affiliation:
Arba Minch University, P.O.Box 21, Arba Minch, Ethiopia
*
‡Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Ethiopia has an irrigation potential of 5.3 million ha (Mha) of which 3.7 Mha can be developed using surface water sources, and 1.6 Mha using groundwater and rainwater management. Irrigation contributes to rapid transformation of agriculture as present-day agriculture is dominated by rainfed single crops. The current irrigation development in Ethiopia is about 0.7 Mha, and the performance of the existing schemes is not well understood. As the country is planning to expand irrigated agriculture in the next five years, it will be useful to review existing performance and to identify areas for interventions that help revitalize underperforming systems. In this paper, we have investigated the performances of irrigation at three levels: (a) national level for broad performance, (b) regional level for small-scale irrigation and (c) scheme level for large-scale irrigation. National level indicators measure (i) the relative proportion of operating schemes, (ii) ratio of actually cultivated area to planned command area and (iii) relative number of benefited to targeted number of households. The result shows that 86.5% of schemes are operating, 74.1% of command area is under cultivation and only 46.8% of the planned beneficiaries have benefited from implemented irrigation. For regional level irrigation performances, the regions of Southern Nations and Nationalities and Oromia Regions were investigated. We used technological (structural) and management factors as measures of performances. Sixty-four underperforming schemes were sampled from the two regions to analyse the causes. About 30 parameters were identified as causes of underperformance. Watershed degradation related problems that are causing erosion and sedimentation of water control and conveyance structures are found to be the major cause for structural failures, while lack of sustainable funding, extension of agronomic practice, and post harvest technologies are identified as the top management-related problems. For evaluating performances of large-scale schemes, we used irrigation water delivery performance and output performance indicators applied to six large-scale schemes. Scheme level performance indicators results showed that all of the schemes considered have supplied adequate to excess amounts of water during the period. The Wonji scheme that uses pump diversion showed higher water use efficiency than other schemes that are using simple gravity diversion types. In this case it might be the running costs of pumps that have encouraged efficient management of water. In terms of output performance, sugarcane based irrigation schemes are superior and up to ten times that of banana, cotton, and maize or tobacco production. The results of these assessments are useful for decision-makers and disclosed the low performance of the existing irrigation schemes. They also indicated the need to revitalize existing schemes to improve performance in parallel to the implementation of new projects. The paper also provided new indicators of evaluation of performance with respect to national level, structural and management related performance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 47 , Issue S1: Improving Water Productivity of Crop-Livestock Systems in Drought-prone Regions , January 2011 , pp. 57 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aklilu, A. (2006). Assessment of irrigation system at state farm. MSc Thesis. Arba Minch University, Ethiopia.Google Scholar
Awulachew, S. B. (2010). Irrigation potential in Ethiopia: Constraints and opportunities for enhancing the system. (Based on own data and draft report for government of Ethiopia). Unpublished report.Google Scholar
Awulachew, Seleshi B., Merrey, D. J., Kamara, A. B., Van Koopen, B., De Vries, F. Penning, and Boelle, E. (2005). Experiences and opportunities for promoting small-scale/micro irrigation and rainwater harvesting for food security in Ethiopia, IWMI Working Paper 98.Google Scholar
Awulachew, Seleshi B., Yilma, A. D., Loulseged, M., Loiskandl, W., Ayana, M. and Alamirew, T. (2007). Water resources and irrigation development in Ethiopia. IWMI Working Paper 123.Google Scholar
Bastiaanssen, W. and Perry, C. (2009). Agricultural water use and water productivity in the large-scale irrigation schemes of the Nile Basin. Report submitted to the Nile Basin Initiative. Entebbe, Uganda.Google Scholar
BCEOM (1999). French Engineering Consultants, in association with ISL and BRGM, “Abbay River Basin Integrated Development Master Plan Project (ARBIDMPP)”, phase 2 Volume I Main report. Report to the MoWR, Ethiopia.Google Scholar
Belete, B. (2006). Across-system comparative assessment of medium-scale irrigation system performance. MSc Thesis. Arba Minch University, Ethiopia.Google Scholar
Bos, M. G., Burton, M. A. and Molden, D. J. (2005). Irrigation and Drainage Performance Assessment. Practical Guidelines. Wallingford, UK: CABI Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burton, M., Molden, D. and Skutsch, J. (2000). Benchmarking irrigation and drainage system performance. Position paper, IPTRID-FAO-WORLDBANK. Working Group on Performance Indicators and Benchmarking, Report on a Workshop, 3–4 August 2000, FAO, Rome, Italy.Google Scholar
FAO (1989): Guidelines for designing and evaluating surface irrigation system. Irrigation and Drainage Paper. No. 45.Google Scholar
Girma, A. (2006). Evaluation of failures and design practices of river diversion structures for irrigation: Case study in Oromia. MSc Thesis, Arba Minch University, Ethiopia.Google Scholar
Habib, D. (2004). Performance evaluation and sensitivity analysis of fixed and cutback flows for furrow irrigation at Metahara Sugar Estate. MSc Thesis. Arba Minch University. Ethiopia.Google Scholar
Hagos, F., Namara, R., Godswill, M. and Awulachew, S. B. (2009). Importance of irrigated agriculture to the Ethiopian economy: Capturing the direct net benefits of irrigation. IWMI Research Report 128.Google Scholar
Kloezen, W. H. and Garcés-Restrepo, C. (1998). Assessing irrigation performance with comparative indicators: The case of the Alto Rio Lerma irrigation District, Mexico. IWMI Research Report 22.Google Scholar
Mekonen, A and Awulachew, S. B. (2009). Assessment of the Performance of Selected Irrigation Schemes in Ethiopia. Journal of Applied Irrigation Science 44: 121–142.Google Scholar
MoARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development). (2010). Ethiopia's Agriculture Sector Policy and Investment Framework: Ten Year Road Map (2010–2020). Unpublished draft report.Google Scholar
MoFED (Minstry of Finance and Economic Development) (2006). Ethiopia: Building on Progress A Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP) (2005/06–2009/10) Volume I: Main Text. Ministry of Finance and Economic Development September, Addis Ababa. Unpublished report.Google Scholar
Molden, D., Sakthivadivel, R., Perry, C. J., de Fraiture, C. and Kloezen, W. H. (1998). Indicators for comparing performance of irrigated agricultural systems. IWMI Research Report 20.Google Scholar
Mohtadullah, K. (1993). Performance of irrigation systems. 15th Congress on Irrigation and Drainage: Water Management in the Next Century – Transactions Vol.1-J Keynote Addresses, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, 74–83.Google Scholar
MoWR (Ministry of Water Resources) (2002). Water Sector Development Program (WSDP), Addis Ababa: Ethiopia. Unpublished report.Google Scholar
Pèrez, L., Rodriguez, J.A., Camacho, E. and Lopez, R. (2005). Monitoring and evaluation of irrigation using quality performance indicators. ICID 21st European regional Conference, 15–19 May 2005, Frankfurt.Google Scholar
Robel, L. (2005). Assessment of design practices and performance of small-scale irrigation structures in South Region. MSc Thesis. Arba Minch University, Ethiopia.Google Scholar
Small, L. E. and Svendsen, M. (1990). A framework for assessing irrigation performance. Irrigation and Drainage System 4: 283–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werfring, A. (2004). Typology of irrigation in Ethiopia. Thesis submitted to the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna. Institute of Hydraulics and Rural Water Management in partial fulfilment of the degree of Diplomingineur.Google Scholar
Yercan, M., Dorsan, F. and Ul, M. A. (2004). Comparative analysis of performance criteria in irrigation schemes: a case study of Gediz river basin in Turkey. Agricultural Water Management 66: 259–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yusuf, K. and Tena, A. (2006). Performance assessment of small-scale irrigation schemes using comparative indicators: a case in Awash River Basin of Ethiopia. Proceeding of the 10th Symposium on Sustainable Water Resources Development, Arba Minch University, October 9–10, 2006, 12–14.Google Scholar