Policy / Irrigation practices / Drip irrigation / Irrigation systems / Water harvesting / Irrigation management

The report uses a nutritional water productivity (NWP) framework to interpret the relationship between nutrition and water in the context of water challenges. It argues that higher yields – of both staple and nutritious crops – are possible, even in water-stressed areas. This will require an agricultural transformation that ensures that efforts to enhance water productivity are linked to the promotion of healthy diets. Increasing water productivity and stabilizing yields at realistic levels will also be crucial to increasing the resilience of farmers. Better coordination and timing of water and other inputs, notably fertilizers and improved seeds, is likely to enhance productivity and to reduce the threats of a further encroachment of agriculture into other ecosystems. A diversified production system is required for food security, nutrition and poverty alleviation. There is an opportunity to provide strategic support for crops and other farm produce with high economic and nutritional value. A range of crops and other produce can be included in farming systems ranging from rainfed to irrigated agriculture. For the farmers to be stimulated and able to capitalize on the increasing need and demand for such produce, the development of markets, and associated investments in cold storage, roads/transport and food procurement programmes that prioritize nutritious produce will be key.

This technical report focuses on Koga, in Ethiopia, and describes the process of developing, designing, piloting and evaluating potential solutions to increase water productivity sustainably, which is the third objective of component 4 of the project on WaPOR (Using Remote Sensing in support of solutions to reduce agricultural water productivity gaps). As irrigated areas expand, more attention must be paid to on-farm water management so as to allow for optimal use and distribution of water resources. Using WaPOR data, that is, remote-sensing based water productivity parameters, this report characterises the status of water use and productivity in the Koga irrigation scheme. It also uses the data to measure the changes occuring after the implementation of low-cost tools and irrigation practices so as to: increase yield and to reduce the water consumed or applied during the irrigation season.

Small-scale irrigation (SSI) provides great benefits to farmers in terms of increased yields and profits, better food and nutrition security and greater resilience to climate shocks. Ethiopia has high potential for expanding SSI and has invested considerably in this area in recent years. Despite these investments, several challenges to further expansion of irrigation technologies remain. Different stakeholders in the country play important roles in overcoming these barriers to further scale technologies for SSI. This paper explores institutional arrangements for the diffusion of small-scale irrigation technologies by mapping the landscape of key actors involved, their interconnections, and their influence. This paper draws on an analysis of stakeholder data collected through two participatory workshops in Ethiopia, one at the national level and one at the Oromia regional level, using the Net-Map approach. Results show the dominance of government actors in the diffusion of SSI at both the national and regional levels, while most private sector and NGO actors remain in the periphery. Participants in both workshops highlighted the need for increased financing services to support the adoption of SSI and measures aimed at increasing the supply of high-quality irrigation equipment, such as modern water lifting technologies. One notable difference between the national and regional results was that at the regional level, farmers, and to some extent traders and input suppliers, were considered to be more influential in the diffusion of irrigation technologies, while they were considered marginal actors at the national level.