Your search found 10 records
1 Ayana, M.; Eshetu, F.; Tadele, K. 2006. Simple and low-cost drip irrigation system: An alternative approach to raise household farm productivity. In Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Menker, M.; Abesha, D.; Atnafe, T.; Wondimkun, Y. (Eds.). Best practices and technologies for small scale agricultural water management in Ethiopia. Proceedings of a MoARD /MoWR /USAID / IWMI Symposium and Exhibition held at Ghion Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 7-9 March, 2006. Colombo, Sri Lanka: IWMI. pp.64-71.
(Location: IWMI-HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7.1 G136 AWU Record No: H039819)
2 Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Yilma, A. D.; Loulseged, M.; Loiskandl, W.; Ayana, M.; Alamirew, T. 2007. Water resources and irrigation development in Ethiopia. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 66p. (IWMI Working Paper 123) [doi: https://doi.org/10.3910/2009.305]
Water resources ; Water potential ; River basins ; Lakes ; Reservoirs ; Water use ; Irrigation programs / Ethiopia / Abbay River Basin / Awash River Basin / Denakil River Basin / Genale Dawa River Basin / Wabi Shebele River Basin / Baro Akobo River Basin / Tekeze River Basin / Omo Ghibe River Basin / Rift Valley Basin / Mereb River Basin / Aysha River Basin / Ogaden River Basin / Amhara Regional State Irrigation Scheme / Oromia Region Irrigation Scheme / Tigray Region Irrigation Scheme
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7 G136 AWU Record No: H040631)
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3 Ayana, M.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele. 2009. Assessment of the performance of selected irrigation schemes in Ethiopia. Journal of Applied Irrigation Science, 44(1):121-142.
Irrigation schemes ; Performance evaluation ; Performance indexes ; Water delivery ; Water conveyance ; Efficiency ; Canals ; Water demand ; Irrigated farming ; Sugarcane ; Fruits ; Water costs ; Water rates ; Pricing / Ethiopia / Metri Irrigation Scheme / Metahara Irrigation Scheme / Wonji Irrigation Scheme
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: PER Record No: H042210)
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Unless attention is given to productivity improvements in food production, feeding the ever-increasing population persist to be the challenge for Ethiopia. The hope that irrigation development improves the productivity of agriculture, ensures food security, overcome impacts of rainfall variability and reduces poverty depends largely on how well the schemes are being operated and managed. This paper presents the results of performance assessments made in selected irrigation schemes in Ethiopia. For this purpose indicators that measure the water delivery and supply as well as output performances have been applied under data scarce situation. The conveyance efficiency in the main systems is found to be in the order of 58 – 89%. Generally the scheme level values of water supply performance indicators such as annual relative water supply (ARWS) and annual relative irrigation supply (ARIS) are equal to unity in Wonji irrigation scheme and greater than one in other schemes indicating that the water supplied exceeded the estimated demand. The values of water delivery ratio (WDR) varies between 0.62 (Wonji scheme) and 1.07 (Hare scheme). Scheme level values of water delivery and supply performance indicators revealed that there is no constraint of water availability at the scheme level. Schemes that produce sugar cane have higher outputs per units of water supplied and harvested area. On the contrary, community managed schemes showed low water productivity than that of large scale government agency managed schemes. As it is evidenced from the analysis of 59 irrigation schemes in the Awash river basin, schemes that use pump diversion have the opportunity to better control the water and sedimentation that enters the field. Pricing of irrigation water and the cost incurred in water conveyance were found to have a positive effect on the land and water resources of the irrigation schemes. Currently the direct water use fee is low to influence the demand and efficiency of water use. However, schemes which use pump diversion were found to consume less water and tended to expand land linearly with the increasing amount of diverted water. Low productivity of irrigated agriculture is possibly attributed to poor conditions of the irrigation infrastructure, inadequate management capacity and skills, lack of proper operation and on-farm water management skills and procedures, lack of incentives and hence low motivation to improve performance. Investment on these factors will have potentially significant impact in improving performance.
4 Bantero, B.; Ayana, M.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele. 2010. Assessment of irrigation performance along the canal reach of community managed scheme in southern Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Development Research, 32(1):81-106 (Special issue with contributions by IWMI authors).
Irrigation schemes ; Communal irrigation systems ; Irrigation canals ; Flow measurement ; Water distribution ; Performance evaluation ; Performance indexes ; Downstream ; Upstream ; Productivity / Ethiopia / Hare Irrigation Scheme / Chano Dorga / Chano Chalba / Kola Shara
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: PER Record No: H043250)
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This paper presents the results of irrigation performance assessment made along the canal reaches of community-managed Hare irrigation scheme in Southern Ethiopia. Field measurement, interview, group discussion and measurement of water supply were undertaken, and output performance indicators were assessed. Measurements of cropping intensity, irrigation interval and productivity show that there is a distinct difference in performance along the main canal. Upstream water users always have easy access to water, higher annual income and resource base than those in midstream and downstream. Disparity among users occurs due to lack of functional institutions and poor conditions of water distribution systems.
5 Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Ayana, M.. 2011. Performance of irrigation: an assessment at different scales in Ethiopia. Experimental Agriculture, 47(Supplement S1):57-69. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0014479710000955]
Irrigated farming ; Irrigation schemes ; Irrigation programs ; Performance indexes ; Water potential / Ethiopia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H043514)
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Ethiopia has an irrigation potential of 5.3 million ha (Mha) of which 3.7 Mha can be developed using surface water sources, and 1.6 Mha using groundwater and rainwater management. Irrigation contributes to rapid transformation of agriculture as present-day agriculture is dominated by rainfed single crops. The current irrigation development in Ethiopia is about 0.7 Mha, and the performance of the existing schemes is not well understood. As the country is planning to expand irrigated agriculture in the next five years, it will be useful to review existing performance and to identify areas for interventions that help revitalize underperforming systems. In this paper, we have investigated the performances of irrigation at three levels: (a) national level for broad performance, (b) regional level for small-scale irrigation and (c) scheme level for large-scale irrigation. National level indicators measure (i) the relative proportion of operating schemes, (ii) ratio of actually cultivated area to planned command area and (iii) relative number of benefited to targeted number of households. The result shows that 86.5% of schemes are operating, 74.1% of command area is under cultivation and only 46.8% of the planned beneficiaries have benefited fromimplemented irrigation. For regional level irrigation performances, the regions of Southern Nations and Nationalities and Oromia Regions were investigated. We used technological (structural) and management factors as measures of performances. Sixty-four underperforming schemes were sampled from the two regions to analyse the causes. About 30 parameters were identified as causes of underperformance. Watershed degradation related problems that are causing erosion and sedimentation of water control and conveyance structures are found to be the major cause for structural failures, while lack of sustainable funding, extension of agronomic practice, and post harvest technologies are identified as the top management-related problems. For evaluating performances of large-scale schemes, we used irrigation water delivery performance and output performance indicators applied to six large-scale schemes. Scheme level performance indicators results showed that all of the schemes considered have supplied adequate to excess amounts of water during the period. The Wonji scheme that uses pump diversion showed higher water use efficiency than other schemes that are using simple gravity diversion types. In this case it might be the running costs of pumps that have encouraged efficient management of water. In terms of output performance, sugarcane based irrigation schemes are superior and up to ten times that of banana, cotton, and maize or tobacco production. The results of these assessments are useful for decision-makers and disclosed the low performance of the existing irrigation schemes. They also indicated the need to revitalize existing schemes to improve performance in parallel to the implementation of new projects. The paper also provided new indicators of evaluation of performance with respect to national level, structural and management related performance.
6 Bantero, B.; Ayana, M.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele. 2008. Across system comparative assessment of irrigation performance of community managed scheme in Southern Ethiopia. In Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Loulseged, Makonnen; Yilma, Aster Denekew (Comps.). Impact of irrigation on poverty and environment in Ethiopia: draft proceedings of the symposium and exhibition, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27-29 November 2007. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). pp.59-76.
Communal irrigation systems ; Canals ; Social aspects ; Environmental effects ; Performance indexes / Ethiopia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044068)
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The water users located at the upstream of the irrigation system have more access to water than those located at the downstream of the system. Moreover, the irrigation activity of tail-enders is seriously affected in both water scarce and water abundant periods due to under and over irrigation respectively. Not only water but also the situation of landholding affects the productivity and income of the farming community. The goal of this study was to assess the spatial variation of irrigation performance and to evaluate its effects in terms of performance of agricultural production (intensification and productivity), income and resources base as well as the environment. Across-system performance assessment study sponsored by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) was done on the basis of simple illustration of the approach followed for the assessment and different levels of water accessibility along the canal reaches. The level of availability of irrigation water or accessibility to the farm is affected by the proximity of the farm to the water source or to the water carrying canals. The study confirmed that as one gets away from both the water source and the canal the accessibility of water becomes less and less, unless proper system for water allocation is in place and practiced. In view of that, six zones can be differentiated based on the condition of water accessibility. These are highly accessible, moderately accessible, less accessible, very less accessible, poorly accessible and water scarce zones. Sometimes the tail-end, which is characterized by water scarce zone, is also found to be affected by water logging. Since, available water and demand for water are not continuously monitored and managed, the situation outlined paves the path for potential conflicts among water users in response to visible livelihood differences. Despite disruption of downstream users from irrigating their field, significant loss of scarce resource by the upstream users have resulted in detectable environmental threat such as water logging, sodicity (10.44meq/l, k (H.C.) 0.00279cm/hr) and salinity problems in the area.
7 Godswill, M.; Namara, Regassa; Hagos, Fitsum; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Ayana, M.; Bossio, Deborah. 2011. A comparative analysis of the technical efficiency of rain-fed and smallholder irrigation in Ethiopia. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 37p. (IWMI Working Paper 143) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2011.202]
Rainfed farming ; Irrigated farming ; Efficiency ; Irrigation schemes ; Small scale systems ; Cropping patterns ; Crop production ; Economic aspects ; Statistical analysis / Ethiopia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H044123)
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Agriculture is the most significant contributor to Ethiopia’s economy. Most of the agricultural production is under rainfed conditions and thus extremely sensitive to rainfall variability. Irrigation development, including smallholder irrigation, is used by the Ethiopian Government to attempt to mitigate the effects of rainfall variability. In this study, we look at smallholder irrigation - modern and traditional irrigation systems. A detailed description of the cropping patterns is given. The stochastic frontier production function approach is used to estimate technical inefficiency, and constraints to production are analyzed. Since the traditional system is found to be efficient but on a lower production frontier, the study shows that significant gains can be made by raising the frontier of the traditional systems and increasing the efficiency of the modern systems. Among the production constraints studied were land preparation, soil fertility, weed control, pests and diseases, soil erosion, input access and moisture deficiency. The most significant constraints on the irrigated systems were input access and moisture deficiency.
8 Schmitter, Petra; Haileslassie, Amare; Nakawuka, Prossie; Gebregziabher, Gebrehaweria; Tesema, M.; Tegegne, D.; Abdela, M.; Yilak, D. L.; Tilahun, S.; Ayana, M.; Langan, Simon. 2016. The importance of Ethiopian soils in irrigation and overall watershed management [Abstract only] Paper presented at the Strategic Forum on Sustainable development in Africa: Opportunities and Pitfalls for Universities and NGO’s, Heverlee, Belgium, 15 January 2016. 1p.
Watershed management ; Irrigation methods ; Surface irrigation ; Groundwater irrigation ; Irrigation water ; Water quality ; Water management ; Soil sampling ; Soil moisture ; Agronomic practices ; Crop production ; Tillage / Ethiopia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047383)
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Irrigation has a large potential to increase agricultural output and yield per unit area. However, the long term sustainability increased production, together with degradation of the soils (and associated water bodies) in irrigated areas may be irreparably damaged by inappropriate watering schedules. In Ethiopia, surface and groundwater irrigation has been promoted intensively throughout the country. While many projects focus on individual or scheme level water access, very little is known about the sustainability of irrigation in Ethiopia. Aside, from water quantity the quality of irrigation water has a significant impact on soil stability and its chemical properties. In the Ziway, a very important irrigation area in Oromia, soils are increasingly becoming sodic due to the large irrigation quantities and the poor water quality. The International Water Management Institute focusses through various research for development projects on improving irrigation water management, increasing groundwater recharge and assessing the environmental impact of irrigation for various soils throughout the Amhara, Oromia and SNNPR region. Irrigation scheduling tools have been introduced at individual and scheme based small holder farms for the irrigation of high value horticultural and fodder crops to improve water and crop productivity and reduce nutrient leaching. Simultaneously groundwater recharge experiments were carried out using deep tillage and soil & water conservation practices in the rainy season. In these studies, soils are sampled, irrigation quantified, soil moisture measured and standard agronomic practices monitored. Additionally, socio-economic data are being collected on household composition, land holding, labor involved in as well as income generated by the various technologies. Preliminary results showed that crop productivity was not effect while reducing water between 18-35% as function of the prevailing soil types. For the groundwater recharge studies lowest runoff values and highest crop productivity values were observed in the deep tillage plots compared to zero and normal tillage. The socio-economic as well as biophysical data are used in field as well as watershed models to assess the environmental and economic impact of various irrigation scenarios throughout the agro-ecological zones.
9 Wendemeneh, D.; Ayana, M.; Haileslassie, Amare; Lohani, T. K. 2024. Spatiotemporal variation in soil salinity under irrigated fields at Bochessa Catchment in Central Ethiopia. Irrigation and Drainage, 73(2):588-600. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.2904]
Soil salinity ; Irrigated farming ; Agriculture ; Irrigated land ; Temporal variations ; Spatial variations ; Farmers ; Soil properties / Ethiopia / Bochessa Catchment
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052482)
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Soil salinity and sodicity problems are one of the major challenges to the permanence of irrigated agriculture in Ethiopia. This manuscript, therefore, concerns its spatial and temporal variation under irrigated fields and suggests possible management options. For this investigation, eight monitoring locations were selected based on the irrigation intensity that farmers practised in the area. With each location, three irrigated farmers' fields were randomly selected for sampling purposes. Likewise, six farmers' fields from the rain-fed system were also selected for comparison purposes. Sampling was performed at the beginning and end of each cropping season for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019. The major physical and chemical properties of the soil were analysed in accordance with standard laboratory procedures. A linear model of two-way analysis of variance was used to analyse parameters across time and space. The results indicated that the majority of the soil properties studied showed significant differences (p < 0.05) over time. This implies that the change is in accordance with the seasonal soil property, possibly due to irrigation practices. Similarly, approximately 90% of the soil properties studied showed noticeable differences (p < 0.05) across locations. Almost all salinity indicators showed an increasing trend in irrigated fields compared to their situation in rain-fed fields. For instance, the electrical conductivity (EC) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) values across the fields ranged from 0.54 to 0.82 dS m ¹ and 8–1%, respectively, with maximum values observed in irrigated fields. This implies that irrigation practices influence soil properties in the area. In addition, the ESP values approaching the maximum permissible limit suggest that sodicity may cause more problems than salinity in the area. Therefore, agronomic practices (e.g. residue management, deep tillage, salttolerant crops and periodic fallowing), irrigation and drainage management practices, and amendments may help farmers mitigate salinity and sodicity problems in the area.
10 Dessalegn, H. T.; Bolding, A.; de Fraiture, C.; Ayana, M.. 2024. Livestock–irrigation interaction and its influence on the sustainability of small-scale irrigation schemes in Ethiopia. Irrigation and Drainage, 12p. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.2940]
Small-scale irrigation ; Irrigation schemes ; Irrigation systems ; Livestock ; Sustainability ; Governance ; Sedimentation ; Water user associations ; Infrastructure / Ethiopia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052716)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/ird.2940?download=true
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H052716.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H052716.pdf
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Small-scale irrigation (SSI) plays a large role in rural livelihoods and the economy in Ethiopia. Despite considerable investment, overall SSI performance is disappointingly poor. The sedimentation of canals and intakes leads to low performance and the abandonment of systems. Livestock roaming in the command area and around riverbanks are an important contributor to sedimentation. Commonly proposed solutions, including technocratic fixes, institutional arrangements between irrigators and livestock farmers, and collective action by irrigators, have not yielded satisfactory results. Based on three case studies from Ethiopia, we illustrate why existing solutions are not effective and why collective action is not straightforward. Using in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions, we examine the complex intertwined relationships between irrigators, livestock farmers and local government. Without understanding the interrelationship and accounting for the links between irrigation and livestock in the design and governance structures of SSI, the proposed technical and organizational fixes are unlikely to be successful. Addressing conflicting interests and building consensus and trust among irrigators and livestock farmers are prerequisites for solving the performance concerns of many Ethiopian SSIs.
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