Your search found 5 records
1 Clarke, N.; Bizimana, J.-C.; Dile, Y.; Worqlul, A.; Osorio, J.; Herbst, B.; Richardson, J. W.; Srinivasan, R.; Gerik, T. J.; Williams, J.; Jones, C. A.; Jeong, J. 2017. Evaluation of new farming technologies in Ethiopia using the Integrated Decision Support System (IDSS). Agricultural Water Management, 180(Part B):267-279. (Special issue: Agricultural Water and Nonpoint Source Pollution Management at a Watershed Scale Part II Overseen by: Dr. Brent Clothier). [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2016.07.023]
Farming systems ; Decision support systems ; Technological changes ; Evaluation ; Water management ; Small scale systems ; Models ; Nutrition ; Energy consumption ; Cropping systems ; Farm income ; Socioeconomic environment ; Watersheds ; Environmental sustainability ; Villages / Ethiopia / Amhara Region / Fogera Woreda / Weg-Arba Amba Kebele / Shena Kebele / Lake Tana
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047957)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377416302694/pdfft?md5=7548f347c9ff8e0db60dca03902b7abe&pid=1-s2.0-S0378377416302694-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H047957.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H047957.pdf
(3.19 MB) (3.19 MB)
This study investigates multi-dimensional impacts of adopting new technology in agriculture at the farm/village and watershed scale in sub-Saharan Africa using the Integrated Decision Support System (IDSS). Application of IDSS as an integrated modeling tool helps solve complex issues in agricultural systems by simultaneously assessing production, environmental, economic, and nutritional consequences of adopting agricultural technologies for sustainable increases in food production and use of scarce natural resources. The IDSS approach was applied to the Amhara region of Ethiopia, where the scarcity of resources and agro-environmental consequences are critical to agricultural productivity of small farm, to analyze the impacts of alternative agricultural technology interventions. Results show significant improvements in family income and nutrition, achieved through the adoption of irrigation technologies, proper use of fertilizer, and improved seed varieties while preserving environmental indicators in terms of soil erosion and sediment loadings. These pilot studies demonstrate the usefulness of the IDSS approach as a tool that can be used to predict and evaluate the economic and environmental consequences of adopting new agricultural technologies that aim to improve the livelihoods of subsistence farmers.
2 Worqlul, A. W.; Dile, Y. T.; Jeong, J.; Adimassu, Zenebe; Lefore, Nicole; Gerik, T.; Srinivasan, R.; Clarke, N.. 2019. Effect of climate change on land suitability for surface irrigation and irrigation potential of the shallow groundwater in Ghana. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 157: 110-125. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2018.12.040]
Climate change ; Land suitability ; Land use ; Irrigation methods ; Surface irrigation ; Groundwater management ; Water resources ; Surface water ; GIS ; Slope ; Soils ; Socioeconomic environment ; Population density ; Rainfall ; Temperature ; Evapotranspiration / Ghana
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049052)
https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0168169918311426?token=D47C9342836EF05EF9C7A103181929ACB8DDE1F80AD6AF06C2A5B98E687E907761A212B911EFC4AC23D7985048ACB910
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049052.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049052.pdf
(6.84 MB)
Estimating the potential land resources suitable for irrigation and evaluating the possible impact of climate change on land suitability is essential for planning a sustainable agricultural system. This study applied a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) technique to evaluate the suitability of land for irrigation in Ghana for a baseline period (1990 to 2010) and future time horizons 2050s (2041 to 2060) and 2070s (2061 to 2080). Key factors considered to evaluate the suitability of the land for irrigation include biophysical features (such as climate, land use, soil, and slope) and socioeconomic factors (such as proximity to roads and population density). These factors were weighted using a pairwise comparison matrix then reclassified and overlaid on a 30 m grid to estimate the irrigation potential of the country. Groundwater data from the British Geological Survey (BGS) were superimposed onto the land suitability map layer to evaluate the irrigation potential and the accessibility of shallow groundwater with simple water lifting technologies. Downscaled and bias-corrected future climate data from HadGEM2-ES under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 emission scenario were used to represent the future climate horizon. Due to climate change, on average, rainfall will increase by 15 mm and 20 mm from the baseline period in the 2050s and 2070s, respectively. The average temperature shows a consistent increase in the majority of Ghana and a higher rate of increase is expected in the 2070s. Consequently, the rising temperature will increase the potential evapotranspiration by 6.0% and 7.6% in the 2050s and 2070s, respectively. The suitability analysis indicates that approximately 9% of the country is suitable for surface irrigation under the baseline period. A large portion of the potential land is located in the southwestern part of the country. The potential suitable land has an average groundwater access of 12 m from the surface with an average borehole potential yield of 2.5 L/second, which makes it favorable for utilization of simple water lifting technologies. Due to climate change, 9.5% of the suitable land will become unfavorable for irrigation in 2050s, and it is expected to reach 17% in 2070s.
3 Worqlul, A. W.; Dile, Y. T.; Schmitter, Petra; Jeong, J.; Meki, M. N.; Gerik, T. J.; Srinivasan, R.; Lefore, Nicole; Clarke, N.. 2019. Water resource assessment, gaps, and constraints of vegetable production in Robit and Dangishta watersheds, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia. Agricultural Water Management, 226:105767. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105767]
Water resources ; Assessment ; Agricultural production ; Vegetables ; Crop yield ; Tomatoes ; Onions ; Irrigation water ; Rain ; Groundwater recharge ; Watersheds ; Water use efficiency ; Fertilizer application ; Farmers ; Farmer-led irrigation ; Models / Ethiopia / Upper Blue Nile Basin / Robit Watershed / Dangishta Watershed
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049376)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377418314021/pdfft?md5=769bfc34b80853a9a6b06c0b86106dda&pid=1-s2.0-S0378377418314021-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049376.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049376.pdf
(2.00 MB) (2.00 MB)
The vast majority of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa depend on rainfed agriculture for food production and livelihood. Various factors including but not limited to rainfall variability, land degradation, and low soil fertility constrain agricultural productivity in the region. The objectives of this study were to 1) estimate the water resources potential to sustain small-scale irrigation (SSI) in Ethiopia during the dry season so as to expand food supply by growing vegetables, and 2) understand the gaps and constraints of vegetable production. The case studies were conducted in the Robit and Dangishta watersheds of the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia. To document farmers’ cropping practices, field-level data were collected from 36 households who had been cultivating tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and onion (Allium cepa L.) during the dry season (November – April). Two components of the Integrated Decision Support System (IDSS) - the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) – were respectively used to assess impacts of SSI at the watershed and field-scale levels. Results suggest that there is a substantial amount of surface runoff and shallow groundwater recharge at the watershed scale. The field-scale analysis in the Robit watershed indicated that optimal tomato yield could be obtained with 500 mm of water and 200 to 250 kg/ha of urea applied with 50 kg/ ha of diammonium phosphate (DAP). In Dangishta, optimum onion yield can be obtained with 400 mm of water and 120 to 180 kg/ha of urea applied with 50 kg/ha of DAP. The field-scale simulation indicated that the average shallow groundwater recharge (after accounting for other groundwater users such as household and livestock use) was not sufficient to meet tomato and onion water demand in the dry season (October to April). The fieldscale analysis also indicated that soil evaporation attributed a significant proportion of evapotranspiration (60% for onion and 40% for tomato). Use of mulching or other soil and water conservation interventions could optimize irrigation water for vegetable production by reducing soil evaporation and thereby increasing water availability in the crop root zone.
4 Dile, Y. T.; Ayana, E. K.; Worqlul, A. W.; Xie, H.; Srinivasan, R.; Lefore, N.; You, L.; Clarke, N.. 2020. Evaluating satellite-based evapotranspiration estimates for hydrological applications in data-scarce regions: a case in Ethiopia. Science of the Total Environment, 743:140702. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140702]
Evapotranspiration ; Hydrology ; Agricultural landscape ; Satellite observation ; Remote sensing ; Water management ; Sustainability ; River basins ; Stream flow ; Land management ; Land use ; Soil moisture ; Grasslands ; Models ; Uncertainty ; Forests / Ethiopia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049976)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720342248/pdfft?md5=33436fc788bb7601053c74729cab3e05&pid=1-s2.0-S0048969720342248-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049976.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049976.pdf
(11.60 MB) (11.6 MB)
Water resource development opens up opportunities for improving smallholder farmer livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa; however, implementation of water resource interventions to ensure sustainability hinges on the availability of sufficient quantity and quality data for monitoring, analysis and planning. Such data is often acquired through instrumentation of water resources (e.g. stream flow monitoring) or the use of hydrological models. In sub-Saharan Africa, data scarcity has limited the ability to monitor and make appropriate decisions for water resource allocation and use. Data derived from remote sensing has been considered a viable option to fill this gap; however, there is limited research in the region that evaluate the quality of the remotely sensed based datasets. This study evaluated actual evapotranspiration (AET) estimates derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR AET) images and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MOD16 AET) images using estimates from a grid-based Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The SWAT model was set up for the entire country of Ethiopia, and calibrated and validated using observed streamflow at several meso-scale watersheds in which satisfactory model performance was obtained. AET estimates from the calibrated and validated SWAT model were then used to evaluate remotely sensed based AET for three landscapes. The AVHRR AET better agreed with the SWAT-simulated AET than the MOD16 AET, although the AVHRR AET overestimated the SWAT-simulated AET in all of the landscapes. Both remotely sensed AET products showed better agreement with the SWAT-simulated AET over agriculture dominated landscapes compared to grassland and forest dominated landscapes. The findings of the study suggest that remotely sensed based AET may help to fine-tune hydrological models in agricultural landscapes in data-scarce regions to improve studies on the impacts of water management interventions aiming to ensure environmental sustainability while enhancing agricultural production, and household income and nutrition.
5 Worqlul, A. W.; Dile, Y. T.; Schmitter, Petra; Bezabih, M.; Adie, A.; Bizimana, J.-C.; Srinivasan, R.; Lefore, N.; Clarke, N.. 2021. Constraints of small-scale irrigated fodder production and nutrition assessment for livestock feed, a case study in Ethiopia. Agricultural Water Management, 254:106973. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106973]
Small scale farming ; Fodder ; Livestock feed ; Nutrition ; Assessment ; Irrigation ; Small scale systems ; Water use efficiency ; Fertilizer application ; Rain ; Runoff ; Groundwater ; Water stress ; Forage yield ; Pennisetum purpureum ; Lathyrus cicera ; Oats ; Farmers ; Watersheds / Africa South of Sahara / Ethiopia / Robit Watershed / Lemo Watershed
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050449)
(3.69 MB)
Livestock is an integral part of the agricultural system in sub-Saharan Africa, serving as a food source, income, fertilizer, and power for farming and transportation. However, the productivity of the livestock system has been hampered due to a lack of sufficient quantity and quality feed. This study evaluates the gaps and constraints of fodder and nutritional potential for livestock feed using small-scale irrigation (SSI). The study comprised of 30 randomly selected farmers from two different ecological zones in Ethiopia. Half of the farmers cultivated Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) in the Robit watershed in northern Ethiopia, and the other half cultivated mixed vetch (Lathyrus cicera) and oats (Avena sativa) in Lemo watershed in southern Ethiopia. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) were applied in an integrated manner to assess the impacts of SSI at the watershed and field-scale levels, respectively. The watershed-scale analysis showed that there is a substantial amount of surface runoff and shallow groundwater recharge that could be used for dry season fodder production using irrigation. Field data calibrated APEX model indicated that Napier yield could be maximized with 550 mm of water in Robit watershed. While in the Lemo watershed, maximum vetch and oats yield may be achieved with 250 mm of water. The major constraints for Napier and oats production in the study sites were soil fertility, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, and vetch production was limited by high temperature. Fodder samples were collected at the time of harvest to evaluate feed quality. The nutritional analysis indicated that Napier grass has a higher dry matter and ash (mineral) content compared to oats and vetch. However, vetch has higher crude protein content (18%) compared to Napier (10%) and oats (6%). Overall the study indicated that cultivating vetch provided superior performance in terms of providing quality feed and environmental services.
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