Abstract
The inefficient water use, and variable and low productivity in Kenyan public irrigation schemes is a major concern. It is, therefore, necessary to periodically monitor and evaluate the performance of public irrigation schemes. This prompted evaluation of performance of three rice growing irrigation schemes in western Kenya using benchmarking and principal component analysis. The aim of the study was to quantify and rank the performance of selected irrigation schemes. The performance of the irrigation schemes was evaluated for the period from 2012 to 2016 using eleven performance indicators under agricultural productivity, water supply and financial performance categories. The performance indicators were weighted using principal component analysis and combined to form a single performance score using linear aggregation method. The average performance in the Ahero, West Kano and Bunyala irrigation schemes was 48%, 49% and 56%, respectively. Based on performance score, the Bunyala irrigation scheme is the highest performing rice irrigation scheme in western Kenya. The three irrigation schemes have an average performance. Operation and management measures to improve the current performance of the irrigation schemes are needed.
Highlights
Irrigated agriculture occupies 4 percent of the total land area (2.9 million ha) under agriculture inKenya [1]
principal component analysis (PCA) in in this study enabled the description performance using performance score
The combination of benchmarking and Principal Component Analysis forms a powerful tool for evaluating the efficiency of irrigation schemes
Summary
It accounts for 3 percent of the Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 18 percent of the total value of all agricultural produce [1]. The main irrigated crops in Kenya are rice, wheat, maize, vegetables, coffee, fruits, sugarcane, cotton and horticulture [2]. Rice is the third main cereal crop grown in Kenya after maize and wheat [3]. It is mainly grown in government-established irrigation schemes managed by National Irrigation Board (NIB). These are Ahero, Bunyala, West Kano irrigation schemes located in Western Kenya and Mwea irrigation scheme in Central Kenya. The other NIB-managed irrigation schemes are: Hola, Perkerra, Bura and, more, recently the Galana-Kulalu Food Security
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