Technical and institutional attributes constraining the performance of small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia

Small-scale irrigation is playing an important role in adapting to climate change, achieving food security, and improving household incomes. The Ethiopian Government considers irrigated agriculture as a primary engine of economic growth and plans to increase the current level of irrigation infrastructure three-fold by the end of 2015. However, there has been concern regarding the performance and management of existing small-scale irrigation. Based on the assessment of 52 small-scale irrigation schemes, and three case study sites, we describe the challenges and interventions required to improve irrigation water management in Ethiopia. Though most schemes are operational, many do not operate at full capacity, due to design failures, excessive siltation, poor agronomic and water management practices, and weak local institutions. In addition to low returns, there is competition for irrigation water between upstream and downstream users, vegetable growers and cereal growers, and between farmers with large irrigable plots and those with small plots. Despite these challenges, our field assessment revealed that small scale irrigation increases crop yields, improves crop diversification, and reduces the risk of crop failure. We emphasize in this paper the need for incentives to improve productivity and minimize conflicts, while enhancing innovation capacity, developing scheme-specific intensification strategies, and promoting collective action. We also describe how benefits from water investments could be substantially increased by overcoming design constraints, strengthening water user associations, and protecting catchments

Managing acid soils for reclaiming livelihoods in Ethiopia

Soil acidification is the result of a complex set of processes caused both naturally and by human activity. It limits plant growth because of conditions that increase base element deficiencies, Phosphorus-fixation and toxicities of Aluminum, Manganese and Hydrogen ions

Innovation platforms for sustainable land management in East African landscapes: Stewardship, incentives, and challenges

This paper examines the potential role of innovation platforms (IPs) in facilitating the adoption and scaling up of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices in East Africa, where land degradation has been a prime challenge affecting food security, livelihoods, and environmental services. Land degradation in Ethiopia has been costing about 3% of the agricultural gross domestic product with an estimated value of US$7 billion over a 20-year period (Berry 2003). Similarly, communities around Mount Elgon in Uganda have been seriously affected by land degradation in multiple ways, including recurrent landslides, which have caused many deaths and destroyed livelihoods (This 200-word excerpt is included in the absence of an abstract)

Nurturing Agricultural Productivity and Resilience in Drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have made substantial progress toward reducing the proportion of its population that suffers from food insecurity. Between 1990 and 2015, the prevalence of hunger in the region declined by 31 %. In countries such as Ethiopia and Mozambique, food availability increased by 41 and 31 %, respectively. However, much of Eastern and Southern Africa has been affected by recurrent drought conditions that have undermined any improvement in food security and nutrition. Dryland systems in SSA have been affected by changing climates that have been aggravated by the low institutional capacity to respond to climatic shocks, a decline in soil fertility, poor surface and ground water management, poor agronomic practices, and weak policy interventions. In this chapter, proven technologies and practices from Eastern and Southern Africa—with the potential to improve agricultural productivity, minimise drought effects and enhance the resilience of systems—are discussed. These include i) diversification and intensification of cropping systems, ii) drought resistant and improved crop varieties, and livestock management interventions, iii) improved agronomic practices that enhance water use efficiency and productivity of farms and systems, iv) the capacity to tolerate short-term shocks and develop resilient farming systems, v) integration and adoption of various water saving strategies to curb the effects of intermittent drought, and vi) favorable policies that would encourage investment and create market opportunities for dryland farmers

Water management for sustainable agricultural intensification and smallholder resilience in sub-Saharan Africa

Water management strategies and allocation policies that support agricultural intensification across agro-ecological zones and hydrologic basins are required for building resilient agrarian communities in sub-Saharan Africa. We provide an overview of the research and investments needed to enhance agriculture in the region, with a focus on technology and institutions, while describing opportunities for improving rainfed crop production. We discuss a range of water management practices in three river basins that were part of the Challenge Program on Water and Food research on Basin Development Challenges from 2009 to 2013. Our main message is that technical and institutional innovations in water management are required for creating and sustaining resilient agrarian communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Such innovations are best designed and implemented in consultations involving researchers, households, investors, and other participants with a management or regulatory responsibility. It is in this collaborative spirit that we introduce this Special Issue of Water Resources and Rural Development, in which several authors present results of studies on agricultural water management in the region, with recommendations for better planning and implementation of interventions to benefit smallholder farmers

Restoring degraded landscapes and fragile food systems in sub-Saharan Africa: synthesis of best practices

Communities in the dryland systems of East Africa regularly suffer from the devastating impacts of climate variability and change, commonly manifested through torrential floods and recurrent droughts. More than 50% of the natural disasters recorded in East African region have occurred during the past decade affecting nearly 30 million people. For instance, in Ethiopia as recently as 2017, more than 5.6 million people were categorized as being in either crisis or emergency situations and requiring urgent humanitarian assistance (WFP, 2017). Such communities, already struggling to cope with the impacts of unpredictable weather, will face a daunting task in adapting to future climate change unless they adapt improved landscape management practices

Landscape positions dictating crop fertilizer responses in wheat-based farming systems of East African Highlands

Improving fertilizer use efficiency has remained a challenge, particularly for small-scale farming in undulating ‘abnormal’ landscapes of East Africa. Milne's 1930s concept on ‘Catena’ was considered as a breakthrough in understanding soil variability and its implication on productivity in East African highlands. However, there is limited information on how the ‘Catena’ features could be used for fine tuning fertilizer recommendations. We initiated multiple on-farm replicated experiments in three wheat-growing districts (Endamohoni, Lemo and Worreilu) in the Ethiopian highlands in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to assess landscape positions affecting crop-nutrient responses, identify yield limiting nutrients across the ‘Catena’ (N, P, K, S and Zn) and quantify effects of landscape positions on resources use efficiency. We clustered farmlands across the ‘Catena’ (Hillslopes, Midslopes and Footslopes) based on land scape positions in the respective locations. Wheat yield was more strongly and significantly affected by landscape positions (P N92 P46) while differences between landscape positions diminish at lower rates. Yield benefits due to application of K was significant only in the dry years (P < 0.05), while there was hardly any yield benefit from the application of zinc and sulfur. The crop nitrogen recovery fraction and crop water productivity decreased with an increasing slope regardless of nutrient combinations. The results indicated that the landscape position could be considered as a proxy indicator for targeted fertilizer application, particularly in farms with undulating topographic features. Hillslopes are better served by the application of organic fertilizers along with conservation measures as applying higher rates of mineral fertilizer in hillslopes would rather increase the risk of downstream nutrient movement

Differences in the nutritional quality of improved finger millet genotypes in Ethiopia

Improved crop genotypes are constantly introduced. However, information on their nutritional quality is generally limited. The present study reports the proximate composition and the concentration and relative bioavailability of minerals of improved finger millets of different genotypes. Grains of finger millet genotypes (n = 15) grown in research station during 2019 and 2020 in Ethiopia, and replicated three times in a randomized complete block design, were analysed for proximate composition, mineral concentration (iron, zinc, calcium, selenium), and antinutritional factors (phytate, tannin and oxalate). Moreover, the antinutritional factors to mineral molar ratio method was used to estimate mineral bioavailability. The result shows a significant genotypic variation in protein, fat and fibre level, ranging from 10% to 14.6%, 1.0 to 3.8%, and 1.4 to 4.6%, respectively. Similarly, different finger millets genotypes had significantly different mineral concentrations ranging from 3762 ± 332 to 5893 ± 353 mg kg−1 for Ca, 19.9 ± 1.6 to 26.2 ± 2.7 mg kg−1 for Zn, 36.3 ± 4.6 to 52.9 ± 9.1 mg kg−1 for Fe and 36.6 ± 11 to 60.9 ± 22 µg kg−1 for Se. Phytate (308–360 µg g−1), tannin (0.15–0.51 mg g−1) and oxalate (1.26–4.41 mg g−1) concentrations were also influenced by genotype. Antinutritional factors to minerals molar ratio were also significantly different by genotypes but were below the threshold for low mineral bioavailability. Genotype significantly influenced mineral and antinutritional concentrations of finger millet grains. In addition, all finger millet genotypes possess good mineral bioavailability. Especially, the high Ca concentration in finger millet, compared to in other cereals, could play a vital role to combating Ca deficiency. The result suggests the different finger millet genotypes possess good nutrient content and may contribute to the nutrition security of the local people

Nutrition profiles of farm households across different farming systems in Ethiopia: Unpacking the determinants and implications for nutrition-sensitive interventions

Tackling nutrition insecurity remains a critical challenge in developing countries. In the predominantly rain-fed and smallholder-based farming systems of Ethiopia, production diversity and livelihood strategies of the farm households vary across geographic areas. However, the effects of household socioeconomic characteristics, production diversity, and household incomes on nutrition profiles in distinct settings have been inadequately understood. Therefore, this study was undertaken to examine the association of farming system type, sources of income, and household wealth status with household nutrition profiles in three remote locations such as Mennisa, Welmel Tiqa, and Agam Wuha that represent root crops-based farming, maize-based semi-pastoral farming, and teff-based cereal farming systems, respectively. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques was employed. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select a total of 265 smallholder households for the structured survey interviews. Standard statistical tests and Tobit regression analyses were performed after determining the wealth category of each household. Results revealed a diversity of income sources used by each of the farm households with average values of 9 in Mennisa, 10 in Agam Wuha, and 11 in Welmel Tiqa, with the contributions of each income source varying by household wealth category and location. As expected, expenditures on food significantly exceeded those on non-food categories for poor households and vice versa for rich wealth households. The average total food variety score (FVS) for Welmel Tiqa was twice that for Agam Wuha, confirming the need for site-specific nutrition profile assessments. Despite the observed differences in household nutrition profiles among wealth categories and locations, the apparent intakes of vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin D, and calcium were consistently below the population-level estimated average requirements across all locations. The number of adequately consumed nutrients by farm households was negatively associated with family size, age of household heads, livestock holdings, wealth categories, and irrigation use, and positively associated with crop production diversity, income diversity, and FVS. The negative association between irrigation use and nutrition security was likely due to the focus on producing crops with a high market value on land under irrigation, coupled with ineffective allocation of generated income for enhancing household nutritional outcomes. Therefore, programs that include irrigated agriculture investments should consider adopting a more integrated nutrition-sensitive interventions, including consideration of locally adapted nutritious crops, such as orange-flesh sweet potato, to address critical deficiency of Vitamin A, nutrition training coupled with development of recipes and cooking demonstrations, and marketing and promotion for nutritious crops