Abstract
Small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia is a key strategy to improve and sustain the food production system. Besides the use of surface water for irrigation, it is essential to unlock the groundwater potential. It is equally important to use soil management and water-saving systems to overcome the declining soil fertility and the temporal water scarcity in the region. In this study, the solar MajiPump was introduced to enable dry season crop production in Ethiopia using shallow groundwater sources. The capacity of the MajiPumps (MP400 and MP200) was tested for the discharge head and discharge using three types of solar panels (150 W and 200 W rigid, and 200 W flexible). Besides, drip irrigation and conservation agriculture (CA) farming systems were evaluated in terms of water productivity and crop yield in comparison to the farmers’ practice (overhead irrigation and tilled farming system). Results indicated that the maximum discharge head capacity of the MajiPumps was 18 m, 14 m, 10 m when using MP400 with 200 W rigid, MP400 with 200 W flexible, and MP200 with 150 W rigid solar panels, respectively. The corresponding MajiPump flow rates ranged from 7.8 L/min to 24.6 L/min, 3 L/min to 25 L/min, and 3.6 L/min to 22.2 L/min, respectively. Compared to farmer’s practice, water productivity was significantly improved under the CA farming and the drip irrigation systems for both irrigated vegetables (garlic, onion, cabbage, potato) and rainfed maize production. The water productivity of garlic, cabbage, potato, and maize was increased by 256%, 43%, 53%, and 9%, respectively, under CA as compared to conventional tillage (CT) even under overhead irrigation. Thus, farmers can obtain a significant water-saving benefit from CA regardless of water application systems. However, water and crop productivity could be further improved in the combined use of MajiPump with CA and drip irrigation (i.e., 38% and 33% water productivity and 43% and 36% crop productivity improvements were observed for potato and onion, respectively). Similarly, compared to CT, the use of CA significantly increased garlic, cabbage, potato, and maize yield by 170%, 42%, 43%, and 15%, respectively under the MajiPump water-lifting system. Overall, the solar-powered drip irrigation and CA farming system were found to be efficient to expand small-scale irrigation and improve productivity and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia.
Highlights
Agriculture has been practiced for centuries and is regarded as the main source of food and income for the rural communities of Ethiopia [1], which accounts for more than80% of the total population [2]
This research showed the potential benefits of the solar-powered water-lifting system (MajiPump) and conservation agriculture (CA) technologies on water productivity and crop yields under on-farm conditions of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia
The capacity of two MajiPumps used in this study (MP400 and MP200) were found to extract water up to a maximum depth of 10 m using MP200 with 150 W rigid panel, 14 m using MP400 with 200 W flexible panel, and to 18 m using MP400 with 200 W rigid panel from shallow groundwater wells
Summary
Agriculture has been practiced for centuries and is regarded as the main source of food and income for the rural communities of Ethiopia [1], which accounts for more than80% of the total population [2]. Rainfed agriculture has frequently suffered from uneven distribution of rainfall and frequent drought shocks, leading to food insecurity of the poor rural communities [3,4]. In response to such recurrent challenges, smallscale irrigation has been considered as one of the main strategies to alleviate food and income shortages [5,6] and enhance the livelihoods of farmers in Ethiopia [7,8,9,10,11,12]. Xie et al [13] depicted that Ethiopia has the potential to add about 1 million ha of land irrigated by small-scale irrigation systems by 2030
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