Evaluation of Delbo Small Scale Irrigation Scheme Performance Southern, Ethiopia

Abstract

Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region have launched a number of small-scale irrigation projects to help farmers achieve food self-sufficiency. However, because their systems' performances have not been assessed, it is unknown what level of performance they are capable of. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the Delbo small-scale irrigation system in southern Ethiopia. The result revealed that, the output per cultivated hectare was between 7668.96 and 31585.36 birr/ha, and the output per season's unit command area ranged between 5560 and 21583.33 birr/ha. The irrigation supply output per unit ranges between 1.0 and 3.32 birr/m3. The relative water supply (RWS) and irrigation water supply (RIS) were 2.03 and 2.75, respectively. This indicated that irrigation water was not in limited supply, and more water was diverted to the Delbo irrigation facilities. The average application efficiency of the chosen farmer's field was 53.3%, storage efficiency was 61.73%, distribution uniformity was 75.58%, and conveyance efficiency was 73.4%. Field I was more effective than Field II in terms of irrigation water management, while Field III was the least effective. One issue that must be addressed to ensure the sustainability of the schemes is to increase the management abilities of the users in order to improve the scheme's water use.