Even though only about 2 percent of available land is being utilized yet with irrigation, studies show that Ethiopia has a potential of more than 11 million hectares of land that could be irrigated with shallow ground or surface water. Also if this resource is successfully exploited, it is believed that it will bring about significant change in the nation’s agricultural hub, both in ensuring food security and income generation with many related other benefits.
Cognizant to this fact, there are evidences witnessing that Ethiopia is paying substantial attention to utilize these abundant irrigation resource by including in her agricultural policy of growth and transformation plan. For example, in GTP II the nation has planned the development of 3.6 million hectares of land with irrigation. However, according to the information acquired from Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), the size of land developed with irrigation is yet didn’t exceed two million hectares.
Therefore, as part of the effort being exerted to lift up the sector to further development, recently, construction of two irrigation dam projects on two rivers has been finalized and inaugurated at the presence of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed.
One of the dams is Rib which is
constructed in South Gondar Zone of Amhara Regional state with the capital amounting 3.8 billion Birr and assumed to have 800 meters of length with 99.5 meters of height. The dam is expected to benefit over 40,000 farmers by developing 20,000 hectares of land.
The other dam is Gidabo, which is constructed on Gidabo River located between the two regional states of Oromoia and SNNP. The dam worth 1.26 billion Birr and believed to contain over 62.5 million cubic meters of water. With this capacity, Gidabo dam is expected to benefit over 10,000 farmers and creates over 192,000 jobs.
During the inaugurations, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed said that on top of strengthening the nation’s effort to ensure food security and being independent of foreign debts, these dams will also help the environmental protection activities and consolidate ties between peoples.
He also reaffirms government’s commitment to improve the livelihood of people by accelerating irrigation pattern through promotion of technological mechanisms of farming in the country. “Share of irrigation farming in the agriculture is 10 percent, which only accounts four percent of the overall GDP. The government has set a goal to take irrigational scheme as its core development agenda” he stressed.
He noted that the government will focus on the provision of up to date technologies of agricultural and professional support to the farmers in order to boost productivity throughout the country and in this regard, the newly established Irrigation Commission will make a difference by transforming the sector and changing the livelihoods of people as well.
Chimdo Anchala (PhD), Senior Director of Production and Productivity at Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), recently told The Ethiopian Herald focusing of the major bottle necks which Ethiopia’s irrigation sector was striving with. These are policy and infrastructure related issues. Adding: “There is a problem in providing irrigation infrastructures including updated technologies, due information, market linkage among others,” he stressed.
He also added that there were even policy related problems which were revealed in extension and institutional execution capacities. There is limitation in working on the sector with focus aiming at creating value chain activities. As of him, these and other problems in the sector could be solved with current direction through reinforcement of government policy and institutions to effectively transform the irrigation sub sector with expanding demand driven research on irrigation and drainage technologies.
Also, he sees that increasing farmers know how on irrigation, and expanding the supply and affordability of irrigation technology equipment and services as engine for moving forward.
Yet, studies witnessed that if irrigation is successfully practiced in Ethiopia, it will become a corner stone for the nation’s agricultural hub with the ability to contribute 140 billion Birr to the economy.
Emphasizing on some main reasons that make irrigation a must do task, Chimdo stressed that rain is decreasing and the consistency is also fluctuating, and it is becoming complex and unmanageable, so these factors and variables are causing a shift to use irrigation as extra substituting option since the country possesses abundant resource in the sub sector. More importantly, he said that the majority of farming land is being cultivated once a year waiting for a rainy season, the development of irrigation therefore, can change this practice and boost agricultural productivity by enabling farmers to produce twice and thrice per year.
Focusing on the nation’s plan of modernizing the agriculture in general and irrigation subsector in particular, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy said that Ethiopia can pay back national debts and ensure food security by focusing on effective exploitation of resources in hand and shortening execution period of such projects in line with other sectoral development activities.
The Ethiopian Herald February 19/2019
BY YOSEF KETMA
