Seleshi Bekele Awulachew, D. Merrey, B. van Koppen, A. Kamara, P.F. de Vries and E. Boelee
International Water Management Institute (IWMI), P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1. This study was conducted with financial support of Canadian International Development Agency, (CIDA) for which we are grateful. The views expressed, however, are those of the authors.
Existing situation in Ethiopia
Formal irrigation, micro irrigation and rainwater harvesting: Tradeoffs
Main gaps to promote SSI, MI and RWH in Ethiopia
Abstract
Ethiopia is one of the largest countries in Africa but also one of the poorest. It has tremendous land and water resources, but has had mixed experiences with promoting irrigation and other modern agricultural technologies. Small-scale irrigation (SSI) and rainwater harvesting are central to Ethiopia's new policy and strategy on agricultural and rural development. This paper provides an assessment of the impacts of these interventions and identifies further opportunities and constraints. In some regions, there is evidence that irrigation has achieved positive impacts: better opportunity for production, better income, reduction of risks, and hence generated benefits for poor rural communities. Despite successes, there are also failures from which to learn. There is a general perception in all regions of Ethiopia that the current low performance of some small-scale irrigation schemes is related to flawed project design and lack of adequate community consultation during project planning. Since only a small proportion of the potential is used and most of the SSI programmes are currently in the planning stages and are yet to be implemented, these conclusions should be seen as providing a unique opportunity to learn from these drawbacks. If ignored, well-intended efforts of governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are likely to continue falling short of their intended impacts.
Key words: Small-scale irrigation, rainwater harvesting, Ethiopia, impact of irrigation
Ethiopia is one of the largest countries in Africa. Covering a land area of 1.13 million km2, it is the second most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (and third on the continent) at about 70 million people. According to the World Bank (2003a), per capita income in 2001 was only US$ 100 per year. The population has been increasing by about 3% annually in the 1990s. Infant mortality is at 116 deaths per 1000 live births and child mortality rate is at 184 deaths per 1000 live births (Heins et al. 2001). The population structure shows that persons of 0–14 years made up 43.8% of the population in 2000 (Muluneh 2001). The dependency rate is also higher than in other African countries. It is estimated that about 100 persons in the productive ages (15–59 years) have to support 124 dependents in terms of food, clothing, health and education (Dagnew 2000). This exacerbates food insecurity and poverty. A population density of 17.5 in 1950, increased to 34.5 (1984), 45.5 (1994) and to 57 persons per km2 in 2000 (Muluneh 2001). Population density, and hence population pressure, on resources varies from region to region. Eighty-five percent of the population is rural dweller. The incidence of poverty in the rural areas is higher than in urban areas, i.e. 47 and 33%, respectively. About 49% of the total population is considered 'under-nourished'. Fifteen to twenty percent of the rural households are female-headed.
Ethiopia's topography can be broadly grouped into uplifted central highlands, tapering into peripheral lowlands that also include the Rift Valley. Most of the country consists of high plateaus and mountain ranges with precipitous edges dissected by numerous streams in the centre, and rolling plains all along the periphery (Mati 2004). The lowlands are relatively hot, with annual rainfall varying between less than 200 to 800 mm and average temperatures of 25°C. The climate in the highlands above 1800 metres above sea level (masl) is mild and annual rainfall ranges from 800 to 2200 mm, with a mean annual temperature of 15°C. The highlands above 1500 masl constitute 43% of the country and accommodate 88% of the human population, over 65% of the livestock, comprise 90% of the cultivated land and nearly 100% of the industrial forest cover (Bekele 2001). The dry lands occupy about 70% of the total landmass and 45% of the arable land. They are characterised by a highly fragile natural resource base: soils are often coarse-textured, sandy, and inherently low in organic matter and water-holding capacity, making them easily susceptible to both wind and water erosions. Crops can suffer from moisture stress and drought even during normal rainfall seasons. Farm productivity has declined substantially and farmers find themselves sliding into poverty (Georgis 1999).
Ethiopia possesses 12 river basins with an annual runoff volume of 122 billion m3 of water with an estimated 2.6 billion m3 of ground water potential. This amounts to about 1,743 m3 of water per person per year: a relatively large volume. But due to lack of water storage capacity and large spatial and temporal variations in rainfall, there is not enough water for most farmers to produce more than one crop per year with frequent crop failures due to dry spells and droughts. Moreover, there is significant erosion, reducing the productivity of farmland.
Agriculture is by far the dominant sector. Most of Ethiopia's cultivated land is under rain-fed agriculture. Less than 40% of the arable area (13.2 million hectares, or 12% of the total land area) is currently under cultivation (AfDB 2003). There is progressive degradation of the natural resource base, especially in highly vulnerable areas of the highlands, which aggravates the incidence of poverty and food insecurity in rural areas. Ethiopia imports about 15% of its food. The government has designed a comprehensive food security strategy that targets the chronically food insecure especially in highly vulnerable areas: marginal and semi-arid areas that are largely moisture deficient, including pastoral areas, with high population pressure. If such measures can be effectively and sustainably implemented, they can make significant difference.
The current situation in rural Ethiopia is a vicious cycle that includes the following dimensions: Population growth à extending agriculture and livestock into less and less favourable land, deforestation to obtain energy and more agricultural land à land and water degradation à poor productivity, food insecurity à poverty à poor health, malnutrition à inability to invest in maintaining or improving land productivity à further degradation etc.
How to transform this vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle is the key question that needs to be addressed.
The major problems associated with managing agricultural water include:
Rural Ethiopia exhibits a huge variation along a number of social and economic dimensions: ethnic group, religion, and economic status are just three. After infrastructure development such as roads, an investment in irrigation is a key factor to trigger rural development. Moreover, the potential multiplier effects of investments in agricultural intensification, for example for irrigation, are considerable. Studies in India and elsewhere reveal that for each dollar invested in agriculture, the value of economic activity in forward and backward linkages including input supply, trade, export, and processing adds another two dollars return. However, for these benefits to be realised especially in the African smallholder context, smallholder irrigation must satisfy the following conditions (Shah et al. 2002):
Irrigation is one means by which agricultural production can be increased to meet growing food demands. Rising demand can be met in three ways: increasing agricultural productivity, increasing the area of arable land, and increasing cropping intensity (number of crops per year). Expansion of the area under cultivation is a finite option especially due to the marginal and vulnerable characteristic of large parts of the country's land. Increasing yields in both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture and cropping intensity in irrigated areas through various methods and technologies are viable options for achieving food security in Ethiopia. If the problem is failure of production as a result of natural causes such as dry-spell and drought, agricultural production can be stabilised and increased by providing for irrigation and retaining more rainwater for in situ use by plants.
The challenge that Ethiopia faces in terms of food insecurity is associated with both inadequate food production even during good rain years (problem related to growth of population), and natural failures due to erratic rainfall. Therefore, increasing arable land or attempting to increase agricultural yield alone cannot be a means to provide food security in Ethiopia, due to environmental impacts (expansion into marginal land, deforestation) and unpredictable natural factors (climate). Ethiopia has also to combine these with enhancing water availability for production and expansion of irrigation that can lead to security in terms of getting a reliable harvest as well as intensification of cropping (producing more than one crop per year). This should be combined with improved partitioning, storage and soil water-retention capacity to increase plant water availability, and use of rainwater to overcome erratic rainfall especially in the relatively higher rainfall areas of highland Ethiopia. There are also important other ways to reduce risk for farmers (social, economic, spatial diversity) and for the government (trade, buffer, pricing).
Estimates of irrigation potential of Ethiopia vary from one source to the other, due to lack of standard or agreed criteria for estimating irrigation potential in the country. Earlier reports, for example, World Bank (1973) as cited in Rahmato (1999) showed the irrigation potential at the lowest 1.0 and 1.5 million hectares, and the highest according to Tilahun and Paulos (2004), on the order of 4.3 million hectares (Table 1). Thus, the above variation in estimates calls for accurate review of the irrigation potential of the country.
| Table 1. Existing irrigation schemes by region. | ||||
Region |
Irrigable potential |
Current irrigation activities | ||
Traditional |
Modern irrigation (ha) | |||
Small |
Medium and large | |||
Oromia |
1,350,000 |
56,807 |
17,690 |
31,981 |
Amhara |
500,000 |
64,035 |
5,752 |
– |
SNNP |
700,000 |
2,000 |
11,577 |
6,076 |
Tigray |
300,000 |
2,607 |
10,000 |
– |
Afar |
163,554 |
2,440 |
– |
21,000 |
Benishangul Gumz |
121,177 |
400 |
200 |
– |
Gambella |
600,000 |
46 |
70 |
– |
Somali |
500,000 |
8,200 |
1,800 |
2,000 |
Hareri |
19,200 |
812 |
125 |
– |
Dire Dawa |
2,000 |
640 |
860 |
– |
Addis Ababa |
526 |
352 |
– |
– |
Total |
4,256,457 |
138,339 |
48,074 |
61,057 |
Source: Tilahun and Paulos (2004). | ||||
Similarly, there is no consistent inventory with regard to the developed irrigation of the country. In 1990, BCEOM (1998) estimated a total of 161 thousand hectare of irrigated agriculture for the country as a whole, of which 64 thousand hectares was in small-scale scheme, 97 thousand hectares in medium and large-scale schemes, and approximately 38 thousand hectares was recorded as under implementation. Tilahun and Paulos (2004) reported that the traditional irrigation schemes alone cover 138,339 ha, out of which 48,074 ha is under modern small-scale irrigation (SSI), 61,057 ha under modern large- and medium-scale schemes, with the aggregated sum of irrigated agriculture of 247,470 ha. From the latter, it can be seen that small-scale irrigation contributes 75% of the irrigation (74.2% traditional and 25.8% modern small-scale). Given the current household level irrigation expansion through traditional schemes and rainwater harvesting, it is also possible that the total sum of actual irrigation development could be over 250 thousand hectares. One of the limiting factors of irrigation potential is water abstraction. The Ethiopian hydrographical network is often characterised by deep and narrow gorges that make water abstraction costs extremely high. However, construction of multipurpose dams for irrigation, hydropower and flood control may help reduce the per hectare cost of development.
Ethiopia indeed has significant irrigation potential assessed both from available land and water resources potential. Irrespective of the lack of knowledge about the accurate potential and what has been developed, and despite efforts of the government to expand irrigation specially on SSI, micro-irrigation (MI) and rainwater harvesting (RWH), the country has not achieved sufficient capacity for agricultural water management to overcome the problems of food insecurity and extreme rural poverty, as well as to create economic dynamism in the country.
Irrigation projects in Ethiopia are identified as large-scale irrigation if the size of command area is greater than 3,000 ha, medium-scale if it falls in the range of 200–3,000 ha and small-scale if it covers less than 200 ha. Categorising in this document is based on the size of land irrigated (MoWR 2002). New classification developed by Werfring et al. (2004) also includes the dimensions of time and management. This system distinguishes between four different types of irrigation schemes in Ethiopia: traditional, modern communal, modern private and public. The existing irrigation scheme development based on regions and river basins is shown in Table 1.
Although the number of large- and medium-scale irrigation projects has remained stagnant in the last decade, these types of irrigation schemes are considered important in the new water sector development programme. Figure 1 provides information on the targeted development of irrigation schemes in Ethiopia. The development of large-scale schemes is useful as they are associated to vital infrastructure development, create job opportunities, and contribute to agricultural growth and the macro-economy.
Data based on MoWR (2002). Note that grand total is total existing plus the planned schemes.
Figure 1. Irrigation development targets.
Parallel to the water sector development programme, considerable efforts have been underway to develop master plans for the various river basins such as Abay, Tekeze and Wabi Shebelle. Through these master plan studies, a number of medium- and large-scale irrigation projects are identified. The remaining challenge now is to transform these master plans into practice.
Even with its limited capital for investment, Ethiopia needs to consider the opportunities that large- and medium-scale schemes provide to achieve agricultural growth, food security and poverty reduction. Many countries have developed irrigation schemes as public investment (for example, India, China, Egypt and USA) and some are still developing irrigation through the allocation of public and government resources (for example, Turkey and Brazil). Though not always designed as pro-poor interventions, large-scale irrigation schemes in Asia have been shown to have positive poverty impacts (Hussain 2005). The Government could also consider other models found in China, for example, and build large public schemes at its expense, and then contract out the operation and maintenance (O&M) and even agricultural services to private firms; it could also promote farmer-based water users associations or co-operatives at secondary canal levels to do the O&M at that level.
Small-scale irrigation schemes in Ethiopia are understood to include traditional small-scale up to 100 ha and modern communal schemes up to 200 ha (MoWR 2002). However, one can also see 'traditional' spate irrigation scheme in, for instance, Tigray of up to 400 ha. Traditionally, farmers have built small-scale schemes on their own initiative, sometimes with government technical and material support. They manage them through their own users' association or committees (MoWR 2002). The farm size varies between 0.25 ha and 0.5 ha. Water users' associations have long existed to manage traditional schemes. They are generally well organised and effectively operated by farmers who know each other and are committed to co-operate closely to achieve common goals. Typical associations comprise up to 200 users who share a main canal or a branch canal. They may be grouped into several teams of 20 to 30 farmers each. Such associations handle construction, water allocation, operation and maintenance functions.
The Federal or Regional Government normally constructs small-scale modern schemes. Such schemes have been expanded after the catastrophic drought in 1973 to achieve food security and better peasants' livelihoods by producing cash crops. Such schemes involve dams and the diversion of streams and rivers. The constructed and completed schemes of such types are usually handed over to water users associations for management, operation and maintenance with the support of personnel from regional bureaus.
Micro irrigation is not understood in the same sense in all regions of Ethiopia. Sometimes the term is used for small-sized schemes of less than one hectare developed at household level, such as rainwater harvesting schemes. Others consider micro irrigation in relation to the technology and refer to drip irrigation schemes. In this report, we use micro irrigation to refer to private small-scale technologies for lifting, conveying and applying irrigation water. It therefore includes treadle and small power pumps to lift water, and a variety of irrigation application technologies such as small bucket and drip systems, and small sprinkler systems. In general, the advantages of this category of technologies are:
This category is sometimes referred to as Affordable Micro Irrigation Technology (AMIT) (ITC 2003) to distinguish it from commercially available 'high-tech' irrigation application technologies such as pressurised drip systems.
In Ethiopia, some private entrepreneurs producing high value crops are using the latter types of conventional 'high-tech' micro irrigation systems. All of the mushrooming flower farms (around Sebeta and Holleta areas in the Oromia Region) and to some extent others such as vegetable farms (e.g. Genesis Farm in Debre Zeit, Oromia Region) are using these conventional imported irrigation technologies on relatively large holdings.
The use of micro irrigation, for example, under current efforts of water harvesting in Ethiopia where the harvested volume of water is small, is appropriate from the point of view of conserving water. The use of micro irrigation by poor farmers has hardly begun in Ethiopia. Its introduction is a recent phenomenon, with some attempts to use this concept by NGOs (such as World Vision in the South, SNV in Wello) and universities such as Arba Minch University (AMU) and Mekelle University (MU).
It is appropriate and timely to consider introducing the wide range of technologies developed elsewhere such as in India and Kenya, so farmers can make their own selection. For example, farmers in India in 2002 could buy four types of irrigation kits: bucket and drip kit, drum and drip kit, customised drip kit and micro sprinkler. According to ITC (2003), the prices of different types of kits ranged from Rs 225 (US$ 5) for bucket kits to Rs 3,000 (US$ 63) for tank kits. Individual farmers directly purchase these kits.
In Ethiopia there are also local manufacturers such as Selam and Wolaita Rural Development Centre that are trying to manufacture and promote treadle pumps. Treadle pumps and small power pumps could provide an opportunity to lift water stored from harvested rain in underground tanks or shallow ground water wells. This type of technology could also be imported and adapted for up scaling.
It should be understood that adding 'only' water to the soil increases the rate with which crop removes plant nutrients, and when these are not replenished by chemical or organic fertiliser, the soil degrades, reducing production capacity even faster than if no water were added. In other words, a plant nutrient replacement strategy must be part of any irrigation strategy. Market-driven profitable agriculture provides farmers incentives to invest in soil fertility.
The term rainwater harvesting (RWH) is used in different ways and thus no universal classification has been adopted (Ngigi 2003). According to Critchley and Siegert (1991), water harvesting in its broadest sense is defined as the 'collection of runoff for its productive use'. Runoff may be harvested from roofs and ground surfaces as well as from intermittent or ephemeral water courses. A wide variety of water harvesting techniques for many different applications is known. Productive uses include the provision of domestic and livestock water, concentration of runoff for crops, fodder and tree production and less frequently water supply for fish and duck ponds.
An excellent overview on land and water conservation technologies and small- to medium-scale irrigation in Ethiopia is presented by WOCAT (http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/ wocat/wocatqt.asp). It lists seven technologies specific for Ethiopia, while many others from other countries apply in some areas. Oweis et al. (1999) reviewed water harvesting methods used in winter rainfall areas (>100 mm per year) and in summer rainfall areas (>250 mm). They gave an excellent overview of the theory of catching, concentrating and storing water, and how this relates to rainfall characteristics, landscape and crop demands. The principles have been known and applied for millennia. Practical designs are given, yet the authors note that recent attempts to encourage more farmers in semi-arid zones are often disappointing, and give the following reasons:
The fact that many farmers in semi-arid regions do not own the land they farm is another reason why investments in water harvesting are low. Although not mentioned in the review, another likely cause of slow uptake is that many of the farmers in semi-arid regions have more experience of being a herdsman than being a cultivator. Kunze (2000) showed that although profitability of water harvesting can be significant at the field level, it might still be negligible if only applied to a small part of the farm.
RWH systems are generally categorised into two categories: a) in situ water conservation practices, small basins, pits, bunds/ridges and b) runoff based systems (catchment and/or storage). The storage system is usually used in supplemental irrigation. The in situ systems, which enhance soil infiltration and water holding capacity, have dominated over storage schemes in Ethiopia until recently. Despite the additional costs involved in storage schemes, the recent trend shows there is a relatively high degree of adoption. Surface runoff from small catchments and roadside ditches is collected and stored in farm ponds holding an average of about 60 m3 of water. This storage is not significant in volume and thus is usually used for supplementary irrigation of vegetables. The use of these systems can be extended to crop fields and larger plot sizes can be warranted through larger sizes of storage combined with efficient water application methods such as low-pressure drip irrigation methods.
Hence, rainwater harvesting is a useful mechanism to overcome the recurrent erratic rainfall and dry spell conditions which often result in crop failures in Ethiopia. There is a need to effectively promote promising RWH technologies and systems; to incorporate and integrate land users' knowledge and innovations; and to build capacity of the land-users to assimilate, adopt and adapt various technologies. We address this in the following sections.
There is a huge scope for irrigation in terms of land and water resources, and there is a strong argument for targeted irrigation investments as a means to promote highly productive commercial agriculture. However, given the relatively high costs of development of irrigation and low global prices of staple grains, combined with the relatively modest performance of irrigated agriculture in Ethiopia, development of irrigation may not be the most appropriate investment to achieve household and national food self-sufficiency. An integrated approach to improving the productivity of rain-fed agriculture, through a combination of RWH, better management of land especially fertility, supplementary irrigation using low cost micro irrigation technologies, and improved varieties can lead to doubling of rain fed yields over the next 10–15 years for a relatively lower per hectare and per capita investment than is required for formal irrigation investments. SSI can be an important part of the overall investment package as it does enable farmers to engage more effectively in commercial high-value agriculture.
The following lists are key constraints, knowledge gaps and broad research needs in effectively implementing the technologies of small-scale irrigation, micro irrigation and rain water harvesting in Ethiopia (for details, see Awulachew et al. 2005):
The major research needs can be grouped into the following broad categories:
Rural Ethiopia exhibits a huge variation along a number of social and economic dimensions: ethnic group, religion, and economic status are just three. Our study suggests three broad groups that could be considered 'target groups' for future investments, as follows:
Group A: The larger group of the rural poor who are chronically food-insecure and have minimal market opportunities and minimal alternative employment opportunities. These are a major target of the New Coalition on Food Security in Ethiopia, but are also relatively difficult to reach. In this group, it is important to start with participatory assessment of resources, opportunities and constraints. In this group it is vital to look into options of RWH, low-cost micro irrigation, multiple use water systems to address suite of needs, improved productivity of livestock and seeds. Furthermore, training on new technologies, hygiene and nutrition are important.
Group B: Farm households who are on the margin between subsistence and commercial agriculture, i.e. who are food secure at least most of the year (low vulnerability in the classification of the World Food Programme) and usually able to produce small surpluses for market but are constrained particularly by access to markets, diversification opportunities etc. The interventions for this group is similar to A, especially at the start, but more technology options, market links and training should be the focus of the interventions.
Group C: Similar people as in Group B, but with the advantage of having potential access to irrigation water either through diversions from streams or small dams to capture water, or through shallow groundwater. In this group, full implementation of SSI but new approaches need to be implemented. The new approaches could be in the form of SSI plus Multiple Use Systems (MUS), with enhanced investment, gender balanced target, strong WUAs and co-operatives. The MUS will be potential avenue for women-managed water schemes. Focus should also be given to integrated water resources management at community as well as river levels.
Promotion of water related technologies in Ethiopia, at small- and large-scales, makes good sense for a number of reasons, and there are basically good opportunities for both. Large-scale irrigation schemes and technologies are relatively well known and the government has already plans to promote these systems actively. Some types of small-scale technologies, especially micro irrigation technologies, however, are still relatively new in Ethiopia. Yet, they have the potential of enabling supplementary irrigation for millions of people and for achieving household food security through home garden micro irrigation, and for modest wealth emerging commercial farmers. The relatively simple equipment needed can be produced locally, hence promoting off-farm employment, and better post harvest stimulate the same indirect benefits. Since small-scale technologies are also particularly effective in expanding the source of domestic water and for home gardens, they are a key to empowering women. There are examples of successful financing mechanisms for poor farmers to adopt small-scale technologies, including self financing and micro-loans.
To carry out such a programme, activities must build on the ongoing projects by governmental organisations, NGOs, community-based organisations (CBOs) and farmer organisations, and on their experiences. This includes learning from other countries, building research and extension capacity in Ethiopia, participatory implementing household and communal water use systems for domestic and productive uses, and refining the methods of implementing through evaluation, demonstration and learning sites. It must also include developing the legal framework for land and water and related service providers. Research needs to accompany the implementing process to allow accelerating up- and out-scaling, and to continually adjust recommendations to local conditions and to development in materials and knowledge. To prepare for such an expansion, capacity building and awareness promotion must be addressed from the beginning. The choice of interventions should be innovative depending on the target groups. Factors such as the poverty and food insecurity level, resource availability, access to market, availability of technology and level of awareness on uptake of technologies must be considered in choosing interventions. If the implementation programme is successful, significant local demand for small-scale equipment will develop. The creation of local supply chains of these equipments and other agricultural inputs, including fertilisers, is crucial.
If the implementing project is really successful, significantly larger volumes of vegetables and other food items will be produced. Markets for these products need to be identified, and producers should be connected to them. These explorations should be initiated at an early stage.
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