Where indigenous water management practices overcome failures of structures: the Wadi Laba spate irrigation system in Eritrea

Abstract

The only source of irrigation water in the Wadi Laba (ephemeral stream) spate irrigation system is the flood, which is highly unpredictable in occurrence and amount. It frequently damages the brushwood and indigenous earthen structures, locally known as agims and musghas, making (re)construction and maintenance, and “fair” water distribution, key elements for the system's “sustainability”. For the past 10 decades, the Wadi Laba farmers have used a number of indigenous water management practices to cope with the (re)construction and maintenance requirements and the need to distribute the floodwater “fairly” within and between the upstream and downstream fields. They have introduced the “full farmers' participation” principle, which obliges each farmer to participate in the (re)construction and maintenance of any damaged structure, regardless of whether or not that structure affects the delivery of water to his/her field. To achieve “fair” water distribution, they have formulated and implemented rules, which among other things, give the tail-end farmers absolute priority water rights to large manageable floods and restrict the rights of the head-end farmers to small floods. These efforts have, however, not been sufficient to enable the farmers to meet their annual food and fodder needs. Hence, as a supplementary livelihood strategy, they have seasonally migrated to the highlands in search of a grazing area for their livestock, and to cultivate their small (less than a hectare) rainfed fields. Nonetheless, this migration coincides with the flood season, making most (re)construction and maintenance, and water distribution activities, more difficult to carry out. To minimize the problem, the farmers have established “effective” organization, led by “strong” leaders that allow short communication lines. Farmers who migrate to the same villages are organized into the same sub-groups, and migrations are arranged on a rotational base, so that there are always some farmers on the ground to look after the flood and to communicate timely with their village colleagues in the highlands, when additional labour is necessary. The paper discusses in detail these management practices and their impact on the livelihood of the farmers. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.