Design of level-basin irrigation systems for robust performance

In ICID. 21st Congress on Irrigation and Drainage: Water Productivity towards Food Security, Tehran, Iran, 15-23 October 2011. New Delhi, India: ICIDLevel-basin irrigation is extensively used in South-Western United States where water is very expensive. A well designed level-basin irrigation system is easy to manage, and has significant potential for achieving higher application efficiency and improved salinity control, particularly when the field is laser-leveled. Over the years, three different criteria have evolved to design level-basin irrigation systems: the volume-balance design criterion proposed by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the limiting length design criterion, and the completion-of-advance criterion. Each one of these three methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. For achieving higher application efficiency, in addition to proper design, a well-defined irrigation scheduling must be followed so that the soil-moisture deficit at the time of irrigation is close to the design depth of the irrigation system. Otherwise, the actual application efficiency will be different (usually lower) than the design application efficiency, and the actual water requirement efficiency achieved may be significantly different (either under-irrigation or over-irrigation) from the design water requirement efficiency. However, if completion-of-advance design criterion is used, the difference between actual and design efficiencies (application efficiency and water requirement efficiency) kept to a minimum. In addition, the actual performance of a level-basin irrigation system designed using the completion-of-advance criterion would be much closer to the design performance even when the inflow flow rate into level-basins fluctuates. This paper will present the results of a simulation study on the robust performance of level-basin irrigation systems designed using the completion-of-advance criterion

Evaluation of furrow irrigation practices in Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan

The performance of furrow irrigation systems in terms of application efficiency, runoff ratio, and water requirement efficiency were evaluated at nine different sites within the Provinces of Fergana (6 sites) and Andijon (3 sites) in Uzbekistan. A total of 46 irrigation events were evaluated during the year 2009, whereas only a total of 8 irrigation events (at 3 sites) were evaluated during the year 2010. Most of the selected fields have slopes greater than 0.005; hence, the average runoff volume from these fields was 39% of the total volume of water applied to the fields, indicating problems with selection of appropriate furrow flow rates under the given set of field conditions. For several fields, the seasonal volume of water applied was significantly different than the irrigation norms specified for the site. Though some of the farmers followed the irrigation advisory service on when to irrigate, there was a large mismatch between the volume of water applied and the volume of water deficit within the crop root zone. Reliability, in terms of magnitude and duration of flow rate received at the fields, was a major issue at all the sites. Considerable fluctuations were observed in the flow rates received at all the field sites during each irrigation event. In addition, the average flow rate received at the field sites varied considerably between irrigation events making it difficult for farmers to manage irrigation water. Farmers that had high watertable (less than 100 cm from the ground surface) still applied large volumes of water, resulting in low application efficiency. Several recommendations for improving the performance of furrow irrigation systems in Uzbekistan are provided

An innovative public-private partnership for irrigation extension in Fergana Valley of Central Asia

A 'farmer-centric' innovative institutional mechanism, a public-private partnership, was created and strengthened, in the Fergana valley of Central Asia, for facilitating communication between farmers and researchers, and to disseminate knowledge on improved agronomic and irrigation management practices to improve water productivity at field level. As a result, yields of cotton from the twenty five demonstration sites in the three countries of Fergana valley - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - were, on the average, 28% higher than the average yield of cotton in the valley, suggesting that the proposed institutional mechanism was very effective in dissemination of information to farmers. Yields from neighboring farmers of demonstration fields were 14% higher than the average yields. In addition, demonstration site farmers used, on the average, 20% less water than the non-project farmers. Two independent external reviewers stated that this innovative public-private mechanism was very effective in disseminating information on improving water productivity at plot level to farmers, and suggested that the focus in the future should be on devising effective policy and economic instruments for financial sustainability of the innovation cycle after the donor support is withdrawn

Prediction of improved water productivity on-farm level in the selected cotton farms of Fergana and Andijan Provinces of Uzbekistan

In Proceedings of the Republican Scientific Practical Conference on Efficient Agricultural Water Use and Tropical Issues in Land Reclamation, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 10-11 November 2010. Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: International Water Management Institute; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Scientific Information Center of Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (SANIIRI)Irrigated agriculture in Central Asia can only be developed through increase of crop yields and reduction of water volumes applied per unit of agricultural production. Thus to improve agricultural production, proper agronomic measures and irrigation schedules have to be developed considering local conditions. To assess existing water productivity, 9 farms have been selected along South Fergana Canal. A Soil-Water-Air-Plant (SWAP) model has been applied for the same fields to predict potential water productivity

Promoting agricultural innovation system in Central Asia for better water productivity at plot level

In Proceedings of the Republican Scientific Practical Conference on Efficient Agricultural Water Use and Tropical Issues in Land Reclamation, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 10-11 November 2010. Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: International Water Management Institute; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Scientific Information Center of Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (SANIIRI

Canal irrigation conundrum: applying contingency theory to irrigation system management in India

This report presents a discussion among IWMI?s Asian researchers on the strategy for policy research on canal irrigation in India. Poor service delivery, persistence of head-tail inequity, growing gap between irrigation potential created and utilized, shrinking of command area despite growing investments in construction and rehabilitation, sustained build up of deferred maintenance of infrastructure, patchy performance of Farmer Participatory Irrigation Management, poor service fee recovery - these are part of the litany of problems that concern irrigation managers and policy makers in India and elsewhere in Asia. This paper argues that state, society, technology and agrarian institutions - all had a better ?fit? with the canal irrigation technology during the colonial and earlier times in ways that does not obtain today. A contingency hypothesis is proposed to explore why, as socio-technical systems, canal irrigation systems would behave differently under different ?contingency clusters?. A research program around irrigation management performance benchmarking - with four meta questions - was proposed but received little support from the IWMI research group. The paper concludes the discussion with the lead author?s dissenting note which argues that, though difficult, benchmarking of managerial performance - as routinely done in businesses, educational institutions, governments, even research institutions - may be the way to go if IWMI aims to contribute to effective reform in canal irrigation management

Canal irrigation conundrum: applying contingency theory to irrigation system management in India.

This report presents a discussion among IWMI?s Asian researchers on the strategy for policy research on canal irrigation in India. Poor service delivery, persistence of head-tail inequity, growing gap between irrigation potential created and utilized, shrinking of command area despite growing investments in construction and rehabilitation, sustained build up of deferred maintenance of infrastructure, patchy performance of Farmer Participatory Irrigation Management, poor service fee recovery - these are part of the litany of problems that concern irrigation managers and policy makers in India and elsewhere in Asia. This paper argues that state, society, technology and agrarian institutions - all had a better ?fit? with the canal irrigation technology during the colonial and earlier times in ways that does not obtain today. A contingency hypothesis is proposed to explore why, as socio-technical systems, canal irrigation systems would behave differently under different ?contingency clusters?. A research program around irrigation management performance benchmarking - with four meta questions - was proposed but received little support from the IWMI research group. The paper concludes the discussion with the lead author?s dissenting note which argues that, though difficult, benchmarking of managerial performance - as routinely done in businesses, educational institutions, governments, even research institutions - may be the way to go if IWMI aims to contribute to effective reform in canal irrigation management