Small-scale Irrigation Development Research Articles

Unintended consequences, conflict and resilience in a small-scale irrigation development, Marakwet, Kenya

AbstractThis article examines the development, early operation and subsequent failure of the Tot-Kolowa Red Cross irrigation scheme in Kenya’s Kerio Valley. Initially conceived as a technical solution to address regional food insecurity, the scheme aimed to scale up food production through the implementation of a fixed pipe irrigation system and the provision of agricultural inputs for cash cropping. A series of unfolding circumstances, however, necessitated numerous modifications to the original design as the project became increasingly entangled with deep and complex histories of land use patterns, resource allocation and conflict. Failure to understand the complexity of these dynamics ultimately led to the project’s collapse as the region spiralled into a period of significant unrest. In tracing these events, we aim to foreground the lived realities of imposed development, including both positive and negative responses to the scheme’s participatory obligations and its wider impact on community resilience.

Human and Physical Dilemmas in Small-Scale Irrigation Development: Evidence from Climate-Sensitive Northern Ghana

Irrigation is widely accepted as an effective adaptive management strategy for small-scale farmers of traditional rain-fed crops in areas experiencing climate change. These changes include timing of onset of the rainy season and the amount and intensity of rainfall—both issues of concern to rural farmers in northern Ghana. Despite obvious benefits, it is not apparent if farmers in this area perceive irrigation as a viable or attainable option to deal with potential food insecurity related to climate change. In this article, we examine three main issues: (1) dry spells during the early parts of the farming season, (2) impacts of these dry spells on farming systems, and (3) farmer adaptation through different agricultural water management practices. A geographic information system and remote sensing analysis using Landsat 8 and field Global Positioning System data supports findings from seventy-two in-depth interviews with smallholder farmers. Results from this integrated assessment reveal sociocultural and physical barriers to manual irrigation, including labor needs, water source proximity, and size of operational land holding. Increasing climate variability in this region will necessitate adaptation by local farmers; however, we argue that irrigation projects should not be initiated without detailed understanding of local sociocultural contexts. Effectively moving water from source to crop will require integrative knowledge of local hydrogeology and sociocultural norms.

PELAKSANAAN PELAYANAN PUBLIK DI BIDANG PENGAIRAN IRIGASI PERTANIAN DI KABUPATEN LOMBOK TIMUR DI TINJAU DARI UNDANG¬-UNDANG NOMOR 17 TAHUN 2019 TENTANG SUMBER DAYA AIR

Irrigation facilities is one of the key factors in farming, especially for food crop farming, including rice. A smallscale irrigation system has an area of less than 500 hectares, and it is the backbone of family food security which in turn will lead to national food security. Damage irrigation system networks will threaten food production increase. In the future, irrigation infrastructure must be better managed so that agricultural sector can realize agricultural diversification, conserve wider irrigation system and maintain local wisdom and social capital in irrigation management. The objective of the paper is to analyze performance, problems and solutions of small irrigation systems in Indonesia, including small irrigation concepts and understanding, small irrigation performance and development, small irrigation development policies, factors affecting smallscale irrigation development, investments, and prospects. The paper also compares various performances, problems and solutions of small irrigation systems in other countries. Small scale irrigation performance is often better than large-scale irrigation, in the sense of water availability throughout the year and equitable water distribution for all service areas

Water Resource Management and Crop Production in General and in Ethiopian Scenario

Water was considered a free commodity in the past, which meant that its quality was unregulated and it was available whenever it was needed. However, as a result of increased population and urbanization, diversification, and a rapid increase in resource demands, water resources are becoming limited and of lower quality. Only 13-18% of the water used by irrigated crops worldwide is used in the form of transpiration, which is correlated with yield and production. Small-scale irrigation development would result from a lack of quality and quantity of water supply for growing crops, as well as increased social, economic, and environmental costs associated with developing large-scale irrigation schemes. This type of development has an impact on the use of rain-fed water for irrigation efficiency. Whereas rain-fed agriculture produces more irrigation products in developing countries' semi-arid regions, accounting for up to 90% in some cases. The primary option would be to increase crop production in these areas by increasing rain-fed agriculture, which ensures that freshwater supply is not stressed in irrigated agriculture. Ethiopia also has a significant amount of available water resources. Despite the country's remarkable water resource potential, river basin development is rarely carried out. Water is critical to the development of the country. Furthermore, Ethiopia's abundant natural water resource endowment, rapidly growing economy, and ambitious government agenda present significant opportunities. It is critical to recognize and capitalize on these opportunities. Water resource management in Ethiopia is hampered by a lack of knowledge about resource conditions, patterns of use, and change drivers, as well as a lack of capacity and capacity within organizations to manage water distribution, determine impacts and trade-offs, and ensure 'climate-smart' planning. Keywords: Crop, Ethiopia, Rain-fed, Water resource management DOI: 10.7176/CER/13-6-02 Publication date: October 31 st 2021

Mapping land suitability for informal, small-scale irrigation development using spatial modelling and machine learning in the Upper East Region, Ghana

Small-scale irrigation has gained momentum in recent years as one of the development priorities in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, farmer-led irrigation is often informal with little support from extension services and a paucity of data on land suitability for irrigation. To map the spatial explicit suitability for dry season small-scale irrigation, we developed a method using an ensemble of boosted regression trees, random forest, and maximum entropy machine learning models for the Upper East Region of Ghana. Both biophysical predictors including surface and groundwater availability, climate, topography and soil properties, and socio-economic predictors which represent demography and infrastructure development such as accessibility to cities and proximity to roads were considered. We assessed that 179,584 ± 49,853 ha is suitable for dry-season small-scale irrigation development when only biophysical variables are considered, and 158,470 ± 27,222 ha when socio-economic variables are included alongside the biophysical predictors, representing 77-89% of the current rainfed-croplands. Travel time to cities, accessibility to small reservoirs, exchangeable sodium percentage, surface runoff that can be potentially stored in reservoirs, population density, proximity to roads, and elevation percentile were the top predictors of small-scale irrigation suitability. These results suggested that the availability of water alone is not a sufficient indicator for area suitability for small-scale irrigation. This calls for strategic road infrastructure development and an improvement in the support to farmers for market accessibility. The suitability for small-scale irrigation should be put in the local context of market availability, demographic indicators, and infrastructure development.

Impact of small-scale irrigation on household food security: evidence from Ethiopia

BackgroundAdamitulu Jido Komoblcha is one of the districts located in lowland areas of the Oromia region with irrigation potentials of 14,000 hectares out of which only 2568 hectares are under small-scale irrigation practices. Though there are a lot of households using irrigation in the study area, the impact that it has brought on the food security of the household is not yet well studied in the area. Several related studies reviewed lack appropriate impact evaluation methods in studying the impact of small-scale irrigation on food security that may result in overestimation or underestimation of the impact. To this end, the main motivation behind this study was to examine whether small-scale irrigation in the study area is creating positive change on household food security or not using the propensity score matching approach.MethodologyBoth primary and secondary data were collected and used in the study. The primary data were collected from randomly selected 94 irrigation users and 100 non-user households from February to March 2018. Secondary data were collected from a review of different works of literature. Both descriptive statistics and econometric models were applied to analyze the data using Stata software version 13. The study applied the propensity score matching (PSM) model to analyze the impact of small-scale irrigation on food security. In analyzing the impact of small scale irrigation on food security, we have used calorie intake, crop harvest and consumption both from own production and bought from the sale of the crop harvest produced through irrigation as an indicator of food security.ResultThe study has found that participation in irrigation is positively determined by age, education, land size, access to extension service, and participation in off or non-farm activities. In contrast to this, participation in irrigation is negatively determined by distance from farm plot to water source and distance from the main market. The results of the nearest neighbor and caliper matching estimators show that participation in small-scale irrigation increased the daily calorie intake of the small-scale irrigation users by 643.76 kcal over non-user households. Similarly, it increased their daily calorie intake to 596.43 kcal and 591.74 kcal, respectively, with radius and kernel matching estimators. The result further indicted that irrigation had positive impact on crop production, consumption and revenue generation which all together indicated improvement in food security. The sensitivity analysis test shows that impact results estimated by this study were insensitive to unobserved selection bias which shows it is a real impact of the irrigation.ConclusionIt was concluded that irrigation has a positive and significant impact on household food security. Concerned bodies that working on small-scale irrigation development therefore should continue investment in irrigation activities for poverty reduction strategies and scale-up irrigation interventions to the other areas where there is potentially irrigable land.

Study on the Actual Management of Irrigation on Small-Scale Irrigation Development Site in Northern Area in the Republic of Zambia

Study on the Actual Management of Irrigation on Small-Scale Irrigation Development Site in Northern Area in the Republic of Zambia

Impact of Small Scale Irrigation Development on Farmers’ Livelihood Improvement in Ethiopia: A Review

This review aims to illustrate the impact of small scale irrigations on farmers’ livelihood improvement in Ethiopia. It discusses the Ethiopian small scale irrigation development, categories and it impact on farmers’ livelihood improvement. The Ethiopian government has made a huge investment to develop small-scale irrigation schemes, and plans to enhance the recent level of irrigation infrastructure three fold by the end of 2020 to solve the household food insecurity problem of smallholder.Small scale irrigation is prioritized as one of the best alternatives for sustainable livelihood improvement, transformation growth and rural poverty alleviation in the country .It has multi-dimensional impacts on the living development of the rural people. It benefits smallholders in the course of crop diversification and intensification, employment opportunities, livestock production, credit services and increasing household incomes. Therefore, this review is important for understanding what was done in the past and what is going on now in improving farmers’ livelihood through small scale irrigation development in Ethiopia. Keywords: Small scale irrigation, Livelihood improvement, Ethiopia DOI : 10.7176/JRDM/62-02 Publication date: January 31 st 2020

Review on Hydrological and Environmental Challenges for Irrigation Agriculture Development in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is frequently faced with climate-related hazards, commonly drought and floods and its agricultural products decrease time to time. As irrigation plays an essential role in stabilizing crop production by either supplementing or replacing the need for natural precipitation and it makes agriculture more confidential, the governments of Ethiopia has followed the development of small-scale irrigation (SSI) schemes for the adaptation and mitigation strategy to increase productivity and to diversify the livelihood scenarios as an option. But, how much the country has 5.3 million hectares of irrigable potential land and the governments of Ethiopia followed the development of small-scale irrigation, still only 5 to 10% of this potential land is irrigated and produces less than 3% of the total food production of the country. So, this review was conducted in order to find out the factors that affect irrigation agriculture development in Ethiopia from different literatures to provide useful information to decision makers for the planning, managing and developing of positional irrigable land of the country for the alleviation of recurrent drought in the country. Different literature indicates that minimum development and small production of irrigation occur in Ethiopia due to different challenges like, inadequate awareness of irrigation water management, inadequate knowledge on improved and diversified irrigation agronomic practices and factors like environmental, social, economic and political. So, in the country for minimization of these challenges and factors, and to increase irrigation development, irrigation project should be developed based on integrated and grass root approach.

Analysis of Cropping Practices on Two Irrigated Perimeters of the Volta Blanche Basin with the Use of Shallow Groundwater

This study aims to analyze the development of small-scale irrigation using shallow groundwater in Nahouri province (south-central Burkina Faso). The methodological approach adopted was essentially based firstly on semi-structured surveys with producers who have adopted sump technology and the monitoring of groundwater level using the installed piezometers and secondly on geophysical prospection. Results obtained show that market gardening is mainly a family activity practiced on plots of 0.20 ha with a predominance of pepper cultivation occupying about 75% of cultivated areas. It was also highlighted that this agricultural activity faces several constraints that delay its development. These include: lack of water, land insecurity, small and fragmented farms and difficulty in selling products when they are put on local markets at the very same time as significant price drops. This problem is accentuated by the perishable nature of these market garden products. Despite these limiting factors, there is some satisfaction considering the income earned by farmers, most of whom are able to meet their primary needs. This work made it possible to conclude that even in zones which are not sedimentary formations, it is possible to mobilize groundwater, at a reasonable depth for agricultural purposes, without much effort to practice additional irrigation, knowing that evaporation carries harm to the use of dams.

Impact Assessment of Small-Scale Irrigation Development in Northern Area in the Republic of Zambia

Impact Assessment of Small-Scale Irrigation Development in Northern Area in the Republic of Zambia

IFAD Impact Assessment – Participatory Small Irrigation Development Programme I (Pasidp I): Results From a High Frequency Data Collection – Ethiopia

This report presents the results of an ex-post impact assessment of the Participatory Small-scale Irrigation Development Programme (PASIDP), a project financed by IFAD and implemented in Ethiopia between 2008 and 2015. This agricultural project aimed at improving food security and increasing income of beneficiaries by providing access to small-scale irrigation infrastructure systems in four regions of Ethiopia. The objective of the impact assessment was to investigate both the sustainability of the impacts and the resilience capacity of beneficiaries in a context characterized by adverse weather conditions. An innovative data collection was put in place to study the impact on areas where a protracted drought was taking place. In particular, using panel data that allowed one to follow household over time, the analysis tested whether the irrigation schemes were able to provide a protective and sustained effect towards reducing vulnerability and enhancing smallholders households resilience capacity to cope with the longer term variability of the climatic shocks.

Small Scale Irrigation in Ghana: Challenges and Prospects in the Face of Climate Variability

Smallholder or informal or small scale irrigation is one of the three broad categories into which irrigation is put in Ghana. Faced with climate change and variability resulting in extreme events, irrigation serves as insurance against crop failure and permits all-year-round production. The study was carried out to underscore the challenges and prospects of small scale irrigation in the face of climate variability in Ghana and to propose the way forward. The key source of data for this study was secondary data which were collected mainly by reviewing published reports, policy documents, articles, online sources and official web sites of relevant state and international institutions. A number of challenges confront small scale irrigation development including high cost of energy, encroachment on irrigation lands, illegal mining activities and lack of technological know-how among others. Small scale irrigation has a promising future owing to renewed collaborative spirit GIDA has with major stakeholders. To forestall encroachment on irrigation lands, we recommend amendment of Irrigation Development Authority Act to empower GIDA to exercise absolute control over irrigation lands. It is also recommended that the Authority collaborates with relevant stakeholders to develop effective programmes for building capacity of contractors involved in development of irrigation infrastructure. To overcome the challenge of high cost of energy, it is recommended that government makes long-term investment into conversion of electric and diesel/petrol powered irrigation pumps to solar powered ones.

Small Scale Irrigation Development

The country Ethiopia is situated in East Africa and hence agriculture is the base for peopleA¢Â€Â™s basic fulfillment and the country is abundant by water resource. Even if we have ample amount of water still now rain-fed agriculture is more practiced than irrigation water application. Irrigation can be defined as the application of water to the soil for increasing the moisture content which is important for plant root-growth and development to prevent stress that may cause reduce the amount of yield as well as the quality of the crops. There is positive relation between irrigation service and poverty alleviation. The availability of water for irrigation in community helps to improve food security. It increases the potential for producing more food consistency in drought prone and food insecure areas. Small scale irrigation farming has played a vital role in enabling food production by lowering the risk of crop failure and sustaining households and food security status. Extension works should be done to aware the importance of irrigation system and the involvement of the local farmers could be include when the system is going to be efficient. Government and other related policy formulation organizations should focused on decentralized system among the users. Irrigation is more effective if all users and non-users participate actually during the planning, implementing, maintaining, monitoring and evaluating works. The participation of the stakeholders is pillar during the management and sustainability of the irrigation structures

Analysis of water quality of selected irrigation water sources in northern Ghana

Abstract Small-scale irrigation continues to cushion the food security gap in sub-Saharan Africa. Irrigation is largely governed by water availability, soil type and crop water requirements, among other factors. Thus, a study was conducted to assess the suitability of various water sources for irrigation in northern Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to assess quality of water sources in the Savelugu, Kasena-Nankana East, and Nabdam districts for small-scale irrigation development. The water quality parameters used were: pH, electrical conductivity (ECw), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), sodium percent (Na%), soluble sodium percentage (SSP), magnesium adsorption ratio (MAR), Kelley's ratio (KR), total hardness (TH), chloride (Cl), Escherichia coli, and fecal coliforms. While we found most of the irrigation water sources, including small reservoirs, dams, wells and rivers suitable, few unsuitable irrigation water sources were also identified. Overall, the study found that opportunities for scaling small-scale irrigation exist in all the sites. The knowledge generated from this study will guide irrigation water use, and agricultural policy for sustainable smallholder irrigation development in the region.

English

Livelihoods of the rural people of Ethiopia depend on agriculture. However, erratic nature of rain and prevalence of drought in the country make agricultural production a challenge. To counter this problem, use of the available water resource for irrigation development is the most promising option. Ketar small scale irrigation scheme is found in Ketar-Genet Peasant association, Tiyo District, Arsi zone, established with the aim of improving level of income and food security of beneficiary households. Nevertheless, no previous study was conducted on the contribution of the scheme to income and food security of households. Thus, this study was conducted with the objective to investigate the contribution of small-scale irrigation to rural household income and food security. The required data set for the study were gathered primarily through survey method from 130 randomly selected sample households both from irrigation users and non-users (65 each). Structured interview was used as data collection method. Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze the required data. Results of the study revealed that, income from irrigated vegetable crops contributed for 21.38% of the total annual crop income for the irrigation users; irrigation users were in better position in terms of livestock (7.58 to 4.38 TLU) and oxen ownership (1.78 to 1.12 TLU); participation in credit (52 to 23%) and the use of extension advisory services. Results of the logit model indicated that age of household head, education level of household head, size of the cultivated land, number of oxen, livestock holding (TLU), income from livestock and irrigation found to be influencing household food security at 1, 5, and 10% significant levels. In general, the empirical analysis confirms that small-scale irrigation development would have positive impact on income and food security of beneficiary households. Thus, the concerned development partners being governmental or non-governmental should join hands to promote the development of such small scale irrigation schemes. Key Words: Small-scale irrigation, food security, agricultural production.

English

The combination of agricultural extension system with small scale irrigation development helps to reduce poverty, and now utmost attention is given to it. Extension system development can increases the production and income of the households and helps to improve their overall economic welfare. This study was conducted to assess the strengths and constraints of the public extension system and to provide suggestions on “best fit” solutions and their scale-up opportunities in the small scale irrigation user; furthermore it examines the impact of agricultural extension system on small-scale irrigation on total income, and the probability of being poor or not at household level. Survey was carried out involving 900 extension users’ households and 875 non-extension users in Afar, Oromia and Somali regional states of Ethiopia which was a total of 1775 households. The result of the study by taking indicators of family size extension service users had more families 6.3 to 5.6 in non-user. The total crop income for one season was 41,282 Ethiopian birr while it was 16,276 for non-users. At the time of the data collection the exchange rate for a dollar was 19.67 Ethiopian Birr. Using a Tobit model to determine the total income parameters of education, extension service access, total land holding had a significant level of increment, while with marginal analysis (dy/dx) factors like household leaders’ age, access to credit and dependency ratios were negatively related with total income. In general, the average annual income of extension users with application of small scale irrigation households was significantly greater than non-extension users. This shows that extension users in small-scale irrigation significantly promote total income of a household. The poverty incidence in non-extension user households is by far greater than user households. Thus, for the agrarian country, Ethiopia, extension system development in small-scale irrigation districts has significant impact on poverty reduction, so agricultural extension development should be given emphasis in development planning. Key words: Income, poverty, small-scale irrigation, extension service, Logit, Tobit, marginal effect.

Small-scale Irrigation: The Driver for Promoting Agricultural Production and Food Security (The Case of Tigray Regional State, Northern Ethiopia)

Small-scale irrigation practices determine the level of food production and, to a great extent, the state of the food security. Considering its importance to the overall growth of the agriculture sector, the Government of Ethiopia gives special emphasis to enhance agricultural production through the promotion of small-scale irrigation schemes. This paper looks at the role of small-scale irrigation in promoting agricultural production and food security. It pays particular attention to the results of small-scale irrigation practices, issues that enhance or impede small-scale irrigation capacities and explore complementary strategies that enhance the development of small-scale irrigation. We use descriptive and regression analysis to examine the relationship between small-scale irrigation and agricultural production. Relying on a survey result and observations, we conclude that, small-scale irrigation schemes could significantly improve agricultural production and the status of food security.

Food Insecurity in Farta District, Northwest Ethiopia: a community based cross–sectional study

BackgroundAccess to sufficient food is essential for household welfare as well as for accomplishing other development activities. Households with insufficient access to food often face other challenges related to food insecurity including poor health and a decline in productivity. These challenges can often create a vicious circle whereby households are unable to produce enough food even during a good crop season. Thus, this study aimed to determine the magnitude of food insecurity and its determinants in rural households of Farta District, Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA community based cross-sectional study was conducted from September to October 2012. Household heads were recruited using a multistage random sampling technique. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) tool after verbal informed consent. Data were entered to Epi info 2002 and exported to SPSS version 16 for analysis. Multiple logistic regressions were fitted and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to identify associated factors and control confounding effect.ResultsA total of 836 households were included in this study. Nearly three quarters of the households (70.7%) had food insecurity. Households headed by females (AOR = 3.18, 95% CI:1.08, 15.21), lack of education (AOR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.46, 4.60), family size of 4-7 (AOR = 2.39, 95% CI: 1.21,4.70), family size of >7 (AOR = 13.23,95% CI:6.18, 28.32), few or absence of livestock (AOR = 5.60, 95% CI:1.28, 24.43), absence of income from off-farm activities (AOR = 3.12, 95% CI:1.53, 6.36), lack of irrigation (AOR = 3.54, 95% CI:2.14, 5.18) and lack of perennial income (AOR = 3.15, 95% CI:1.88, 5.27) were factors associated with food insecurity.ConclusionsThis study revealed that most households of the district were food insecure. Hence, the promotion of contraceptive use, off-farm employment activities and the development of small scale irrigation are important recommendations to reduce food insecurity.

Integrated assessment of hydrogeology and water quality for groundwater-based irrigation development in the Raya Valley, northern Ethiopia

Ambitious plans for expanding the area under irrigation in Ethiopia have not been adequately underpinned by assessments of the actual potential. A detailed hydrogeological study was conducted in one of the focal areas for expansion, in the northern part of the country. The study revealed that there are large groundwater reserves within the valley floor's Quaternary alluvial sediments and underlying Tertiary fractured volcanic rocks. Levels of salinity and sodicity do not pose constraints for agricultural water use. In the valley-floor aquifers there would appear to be sufficient water to support large- and small-scale irrigation development.