Water re-use in river basins: a solution to increase water efficiency and productivity?: the Usangu case study, Tanzania

River basinsWater reuseIrrigation efficiency

Water re-use river basins: a solution to increase water efficiency and productivity?: the Usangu case study, Tanzania

River basinsWater reuseIrrigation efficiencyProductivity

Exploring the head versus tail-end dichotomy on yield and farm incomes in smallholder irrigation schemes in Tanzania

Variations in water supply and their impact on farm production in smallholder irrigation schemes are often associated with the location of irrigators at either the head or tail‐end, with tail‐enders usually considered to be at a severe disadvantage. However, it is rare that the impact of multidimensional proxies of water (capturing adequacy, timing, and location) on farm production and income have been evaluated in conjunction with other relevant variables. Using GIS analysis, this study combines irrigation household surveys, irrigation area characteristics, and cadastral data from two smallholder irrigation schemes in southern Tanzania. The results indicate that location at both the head‐end and tail‐end had a negative significant impact on farm yields, but not farm incomes. Also, being further downstream the secondary canals (but not necessarily away from the system's intake) had a significant negative effect on both yields and incomes. Surprisingly, increased tomato production drove a decline in incomes, thus raising the importance of crop selection and productivity barriers linked to markets and knowledge. In absence of actual quantitative measures of water supply, this study concludes that using a multidimensional water proxy can uncover important effects that would otherwise remain overlooked by the widespread head versus tail‐end dichotomy, commonly used in the study of water distribution within smallholder irrigation systems.Ana Manero, Sarah Ann Wheeler, Alec Zuo, Makarius Mdem

The role of soil water monitoring tools and agricultural innovation platforms in improving food security and income of farmers in smallholder irrigation schemes in Tanzania

Smallholder irrigation is an important pathway towards better livelihoods and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. This article assesses the contribution of farmer-friendly soil and water monitoring tools, and agricultural innovation platforms, towards household income and food security in two small-scale irrigation schemes in Tanzania. Quantitative and qualitative data from farmer’s field books, household surveys and focus groups were used to assess the impacts of the two interventions. The two interventions together contributed to enhancing smallholders’ food security and household income in the two schemes, as did the agricultural innovation platform on its own

Growth and inequality at the micro scale: an empirical analysis of farm incomes within smallholder irrigation systems in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Mozambique

The mechanisms linking growth and inequality are critical for poverty reduction, yet they remain poorly understood at the micro level, as current knowledge is dominated by country-wide studies. This article evaluates farm income growth and changes in inequality among five smallholder irrigation communities in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Over the period of study, the poorest sections of the population became better-off. Over an income growth spell, at low levels of growth, relative inequality increases, but it starts to drop as growth rises beyond a certain rate. Thus, careful design is required to ensure that pro-growth strategies also become inequality-reducing

Irrigators’ willingness to pay for the adoption of soil moisture monitoring tools in South-Eastern Africa

Contingent valuation is used to elicit irrigators’ willingness to pay for soil moisture tools in irrigation schemes in Africa, with various econometric methods employed to mitigate potential bias. Key results include that there is a neighbourhood effect influencing adoption, and that being located downstream and spending more on irrigation water positively and statistically significantly influenced willingness to pay for tools. The result suggests that although focusing on economic incentives and promoting farmer learning by those using the tools may promote greater adoption, there is likely to still be a need for co-investment by other bodies

An overview of extension use in irrigated agriculture and case studies in south-eastern Africa

This study provides an overview of extension influence on the adoption of irrigation innovations in developed and developing countries, and finds that extension plays a more significant positive role in influencing soft technology adoption in developing countries. Case studies on the nature, use and availability of extension advice in six irrigation schemes in Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe are presented. The use of government extension officers varied significantly, with extension use not linked to farm outcomes. The results suggest the need to support more diverse sources of advice and to promote institutional reform in south-eastern Africa

Irrigating Africa: policy barriers and opportunities for enhanced productivity of smallholder farmers

African governments have ambitious plans to expand irrigated agriculture, though existing smallholder schemes have largely failed to use land and water sustainably or become profitable. Six government-owned irrigation schemes in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe were assessed to identify common policy barriers and opportunities for higher productivity among smallholder farmers. Issues like insecure land tenure systems, unclear institutional arrangements and poor access to markets have contributed to limited profitability. Reform of currently insecure land tenure, strengthening farmer organizations and reforming policies are recommended so that governments step back from scheme management and foster market linkages to enable more profitable irrigated agriculture

Transforming smallholder irrigation schemes in Africa

This publication is a guide to help farmers become more profitable and sustainable. Across Africa, smallholder irrigation schemes have performed poorly, leading to calls for their ‘revitalisation’, ‘reoperation’ or ‘rehabilitation’. The authors present knowledge generated through four years of research intervention at six irrigation schemes in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, and their understanding of what has worked to turn five of into successful enterprises. A summary of the best advice on good practices needed for more sustainable irrigation is presented. Each intervention can be considered alone, although a number of different complementary interventions are usually required to achieve better socioeconomic and environmental outcomes. The ideas described in the publication were developed through the project Increasing irrigation water productivity in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe through on-farm monitoring, adaptive management and agricultural innovation platforms that was largely funded by ACAIR project FSC/2013/006

Transforming smallholder irrigation into profitable and self-sustaining systems in southern Africa

Small-scale communal irrigation schemes in Africa have not realised returns on investment. Critical to this failure is that funders, designers and managers of these schemes have not recognized them as complex socio-ecological systems with a diversity of constraints. These schemes are often under-performing and characterized by a subsistence orientation, which is compounded by poor market integration, low capacity to invest in crop production, low yields, difficulties paying for water, or lack of willingness to participate in system maintenance. The end result is unsustainable utilization of resources, failed infrastructure, inefficient use of water and land and increased conflict over access to these resources. Conventional irrigation scheme development has focused on ‘hard’ technologies to improve the functionality and efficiency of infrastructure and/or irrigation application technologies. However, hard technology improvements on their own have failed to deliver sustainable schemes and improve the livelihoods of irrigation farmers (Inocencio et al., 2007): broken and decaying infrastructure is just one element of an underperforming system. While technologies that are more efficient may help improve yield, they will not necessarily improve profitability. A great many irrigation schemes are trapped in a negative cycle of infrastructure provision, unprofitable farming, lack of investment in maintenance, infrastructure degradation leading to donors subsidizing infrastructure rehabilitation (Pittock & Stirzaker, 2014; Bjornlund et al., 2017)..