Abstract
The planning process of surface irrigation has to integrate information about the suitability of the land, water resource availability and water requirements of irrigable areas in time and place. Birbir River is one of well-known river found in western Ethiopia. The Birbir River is a tributary of the Baro-Akobo river basin, which creates Baro River when it joins with Gebba River. Ethiopia has immense potential in expanding irrigation using available water resources. But due to lack of information related to cultivable and irrigation suitability of the land, its agricultural system does not yet fully productive. Geographic Information System can be an effective tool in identifying irrigable land and mapping of suitable land for irrigation. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to assess the surface irrigation potential land suitability of the Birbir river watershed using ArcGIS 10.3 and Soil and water assessment tool software. Different methods of data processing and analysis have been employed in this study. The main suitability parameters used to identify the irrigation land suitability were slope, soil texture, soil depth, soil type, soil drainage characteristics, land use land cover and distance to water source. The individual suitability of each parameter was first analyzed and finally weighted to get suitable irrigable sites. To reduce the individual biases of factor weighting, the weights of each parameter in the study were determined by using a pairwise comparison method as developed by Satty in the context of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). By weighting values of the seven factors using Analytic Hierarchy Process and overlaying by weighted overlay in ArcGIS 10.3, the irrigation suitability map was developed and irrigable land area for surface irrigation was found to be 17%, 63% and 20% for highly suitable S1, moderately suitable S2, and marginally suitable S3 respectively. The total area of the land classified under not suitable (N) class covered was not available. This implies that all lands of the Birbir river watershed can be utilized based on the current irrigation technology.
Highlights
Slope Suitability The slope suitability analysis of the river watershed revealed that 27.91% (174,359 ha) of the total area was in the range of highly suitable (S1) for surface irrigation
Almost half of the Birbir river watershed can be put under irrigation with some limitations which may cost the mitigation of the environment with respect to land use land cover
Based on slope suitability analysis more than half Birbir river watershed was found to be highly suitable to moderately suitable for surface irrigation in terms of its work efficiency and cost for land leveling, canal construction and cost for pumping system. one fourth of the river watershed cannot be put under surface irrigation due to the impact of surface irrigation on the environment and almost half of the Birbir river watershed can be put under surface irrigation with some limitations which may cost the mitigation of the environment with respect to land use land cover
Summary
According to the definition of FAO [1], Irrigation is the artificial application of water onto cropland for the purpose of satisfying the water necessary for growing different crops and it plays a key role in stabilizing food production in a number of countries by either supplementing or replacing the need for natural precipitation for the purpose of food production. Irrigation on the free surface offers a number of benefits for the less skilled and poor farmers. Irrigation has contributed significantly to poverty reduction, food security, and improving the quality of life for rural populations.
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