CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION UTILIZATION IN THE CENTRAL RIFT VALLEY BASIN DUGDA WOREDA, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Water is a significant component of our economics and is at the center of social and economic development. However, for countries like Ethiopia with a fast-growing population, its agricultural system does not yet fully benefit from water management and irrigation technologies despite having abundant water resources. The existing rainfed agriculture is under the mercy of erratic and non uniform rainfall. The total agricultural area of the Dugda woreda developed under traditional and modern small-scale irrigation. With abundant water resources, vast stretches of usable area for irrigation, excellent and fertile soil, and conducive climatic conditions to the production of a wide range of crops, partnership with agri-business, assistance from the financial institutions, there are opportunities for the utilization of small-scale irrigation. But the education status of the irrigation user, mismanagement of irrigation water, agricultural extension problem in adapting irrigation technologies, and give training on management like irrigation scheduling, lack of technical capacity and advice, absence of awareness on irrigation scheduling, and misconception about irrigation crop water requirement pose some of the significant challenges with the irrigation practices in Ethiopia. Crops that have undergone water stress due to untimely water reception tend to produce a harvest that sells for a lower price in the market. Using FAO, Cropwat 8.0 software, the study found that, historically, the maximum Evapotranspiration (Etc) of Tomato was 550.7mm, and that of Maize was 369.6mm per season. Moreover, in the coming 50 years, the crop evapotranspiration of Tomato will be 605.9 mm per season, and that of Maize will be 395.9 mm per season; due to climate change in the coming years, more water needed for their production. Increasing temperature and hence evapotranspiration points towards the need for an hour to manage the water resources well in time and manage the irrigation practices in the area to improve the productivity of respective crops. In Ethiopia, irrigation can maintain agricultural productivity while mitigating the adverse effects of insufficient rainfall. Delayed arrival of rainy seasons, early withdrawal, and misdistribution of rain were issues in several parts of the country, including the study region. Many lessons were gained to consider the expansion of small, medium, and large-scale irrigation seriously. However, physical, technical, and socio-economic considerations, in particular, provide numerous challenges to the building and maintenance of irrigation systems in the study area. As a result, the goals of this study were to evaluate potential and problems for irrigation scheme construction and management, as well as the organizational structure of water users' associations.