DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2011.0383DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2011.0383

INNOVATION LAB ON SMALL SCALE IRRIGATION

Jennie BARRON with Nicole LEFORE and Petra SCHMITTERStockholm World Water Week 28th August 2016

Insights and Opportunities from New Field Studies with Small-scale Irrigation in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Ghana

RESURGE IN IRRIGATION INVESTMENTS AND INTEREST IN SSA

Manage water security for development and environment

• Adapt to CC

• Respond to food, fodder and fibre demand

• Provide opportunities for rural incl. women and youth

Low yield, predominantly rainfed crop production systems

Productive use of surface and groundwater for irrigation in sustainable intensification

Transition Pressure

Soil fertility: organic matter management, nutrient input

Water availability:

climate, surface and

groundwater availability,

infrastructure

Water access: Drilling

capabilities, pumps and

energy sources

Land tenure and pressure:

human and livestock

population, consumption

demand

Market conditions: access and

prices

TRANSFORMATION THROUGH SMALLHOLDER IRRIGATION: WORKING WITH IDENTIFIED CONSTRAINTS

• Manual water lifting technologies &

• Gender (labour)

Limited GW recharge & availability

• Low market price for produce

• Land and water tenure

• Lack of micro-credit

• Limited access to high quality seed/ fertilizer

UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL FOR SMALLHOLDER AGRICULTURE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

• What technologies, tools and approaches make women and men farmer profit and improve wellbeing?

water access , water scheduling

• How can these be enabled for women and men farmers? revolving funds, opportunistic value chain engagements

• Can adoption be sustainable in landscape and with other water users?monitoring of water resources use on landscape scale

water access , water scheduling

• Technical efficiency evaluated based on production (econ. analysis) decreases as irrigation water applied increases

• R&W efficiency vs. Pulley: strongly site specific• Women seem equally efficient with onion and napier but less for tomato (T. Assefa, 2015)

GENDER HAS IMPLICATIONS ON ENABLING IRRIGATION WITH MANUAL WATER LIFTING

FARMERS’ CHOICE OF TECHNOLOGY PREFERENCE BY SITE

• Possible reasons: accessibility of water sources• Preliminary results of cost-benefit analysis show that the economic feasibility of

irrigation technologies vary by crop, gender and site.

Site% of sample farmers who prefer

Motor pump R&W PulleyAdami-Tulu 70 28 2Lemo 16 41 43Robit 55 2 43Dangeshita 7 65 28

(M. Dessie, 2015)

WATER MANAGEMENT TOOLS HELP FARMERS INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

•

revolving funds, opportunistic value chain engagements

PROVIDING MEANS TO INVEST

• Testing different models: revolving funds Tz, micro credits Eth • Assessment of financial institutions’ lending capacity for irrigation

technology

Emerging findings:

• Women disadvantaged because of lack of control (not always utility) of assets such as land

• Low capacity of MFI to raise capital/ cash• Financial literacy of farmers and financial institutions needs capacity

development

EMERGING COMMODITIES PROVIDES OPPORTUNITIES : FODDER MARKETING

Fodder type Wet season Price (TSh)

Dry SeasonPrice (TSh)

+/- Unit

Natural grass mix 30k 40k +25% pickup

Rice straw 35k - Lorry

Dry maize stover 30k 40k +25% pickup

Napier grass 1.5k 3k +50% load

WATER PRODUCTIVITY AND ECONOMIC GAIN DOES NOT ALWAYS TALLY

(Source data: M. Tesema, T. Ewnetie, H. Mulugeta and D. Tegegne, 2015; A. Abera and M. Blummel 2016)

• Large variability in irrigation applied without significant increases in yield• Most water productive doesnot translate automatically to most economic gain per

input of water• Oats & Vetch and Desho promising irrigated crops (annual vs. perennial)• Tomato seems to give the highest return for the water abstracted assuming water

availaiblity is not a constraint

monitoring of water resources use on landscape scale

SHALLOW GROUNDWATER IS AN UNTAPPED POTENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE INTESIFICATION.....

• Annual average rainfall: 1450 mm • Runoff = 675mm Þ Recharge is 30% of rainfall at watershed

scale = 400 mmYilak et al in prep.

May, 2014

Jun, 2014

July, 2014

Aug, 2014

Sept, 2014

Oct, 2014

Nov, 2014

Dec., 2014

Jan, 2015

0

100

200

300

400

500Monthly average rechargeMonthly Rainfall , mm

DateRa

infa

ll an

d re

char

ge d

epth

, mm

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

R² = 0.487387350362063

Water storage depth of the well, m

Tota

l Rec

harg

e, m

a

Yilak et al. (in prep)

..BUT SHALLOW GROUNDWATER NEEDS TECHNOLOGIES IN TUNE WITH LANDCSAPE CONTEXT

EMERGING MESSAGES • What technologies, tools and approaches make women and men farmer

profit and improve wellbeing? Water lifting can make profit for men and womenMotorized pump and rope & washer more promising

• How can these be enabled for women and men farmers?Provide solutions addressing labour and genderModels for access to micro finance Promising opportunities in emerging markets such as fodder

• Can adoption be sustainable in landscape and with other water users?Shallow groundwater has great scope for residual moisture and

dry season sustainable intensificationEconomic productivity may be more important than water

productivity to scale

www.feedthefuture.gov

U.S. GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

• ETH Constraints for male and female irrigators in relation to water lifting and water management is different•ETH Variability between farmers in the same site, same technology and same water management is high => continuation needed to confirm preliminary findings•ETH Need for site specific irrigation recommendations: water - labor and land availability whilst making a good economic decision on what to grow•GHA Opportunity for rainwater harvesting and water storage in northern Ghana: for households with rooftops with corrugated iron.

•GHA Shallow wells provide reliable water source for SSI-start planting in September/October each year to meet periods of peak water requirement

•GHA There are serious water deficits at watershed scale: need for 1100 to 1300 mm to meet irrigation water needs throughout the dry season

•GHA Challenges with use of WFD - farmers and AEAs require additional training

• TZ Farmers should receive adequate training on how to operate, repair and maintain the Water lifting and water use technologies •TZ Develop and proactively enforce policies, regulations and by-laws to protect water use structures•TZ Farmers must have access to credit tailored to their conditions.•TZ The local government must devise strategic means of availing financial resources to in invest in water lifting and water use technologies •TZ Strengthening the local water governance institutions such as WUAs is important for sustainable up-scaling of WUTs.

CONCLUSIONS

MAIN ACTIVITIES

• GW/SW use: manual/& motorized water lifting devices (pulley, rope and washer, petrol & solar pump)

• Gender: female & male irrigators• Irrigation management

(Soil moisture based, CWR (ET), WFD, Drip & conservation agriculture - NCAT)

• Crops (vegetables, fruit trees & fodder)

• Improving groundwater recharge • Credit constraints and opportunities

(survey & interviews, revolving fund)

SITES OF ACTIVITIES

WATER APPLIED

119109

104

90 65

Length Growing period

• 20 % GW recharge <Irrigation depth applied >< 40 % GW recharge (except for supplementary irrigation of Desho and O&V)

• Variation in irrigation water applied, influenced rather by manual water lifting than water management and gender

(Source data: M. Tesema, T. Ewnetie, H. Mulugeta and D. Tegegne, 2015)