BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
As it is an agrarian country, 80 percent of Ethiopian population’s livelihood is relied on the agriculture sector. The sector is mostly rain fed and subsistence. Due to the low yield of the agriculture, the nation is still named as food insecure country.
To reverse this narration via enhancing agriculture productivity, the government has taken various measures and among others, expanding irrigation farm, mechanization of the sector and supplying modern inputs can be mentioned. To that end, the Government established the Ministry of Irrigation and Lowland Areas.
Recently, the Ministry evaluated its nine months plan accomplishment via reports. On the occasion, the Minister of Irrigation and Low Land Areas, Engineer Aysha Mohammed said that Ethiopia has abundant water resources but the nation still harnessed very small portion of the resource and to upgrade irrigation farm, the government is trying its level best.
She further said that to strengthen both medium and small sized irrigation farms, tractors and water pumps are being supplied to the regions. In order to resolve challenges the sector faces, rigorous efforts are being exerted and each year the size of irrigated farm is increasing.
On the occasion reports were presented by regional Bureau heads. Dagnenet Fenta, Bureau Head of Amhara Region Irrigation and Lowland Areas said that in the region, more than 25 million people is residing and it is proved that about 45 billion cubic meter water is available in the region but only 10 percent of it is utilized. The Bureau was established in 2022 and branch offices are established in 144 woredas.
Cultivating the land through irrigation necessitates changing river courses and constructing dams for water preservation. Small scale irrigation farms are established in 95 places by human labor and currently 122 irrigation projects are under implementation and with that 26 thousand hectares of land will be cultivated. 214 irrigation development associations are established in the region and the bureau supplied 50 pumps to the farmers’ associations. In line with this, job opportunities are created for more than 34 thousand people.
As to Dagnenet, 1,923,345 hectare of land can be cultivated in the region by using dams and the region’s annual agriculture water demand is 28.8 billion cubic meter. He further said that the regional government has its own vision to identify the irrigable areas and utilize all resources through using better technology. It also has an objective to prioritize the low land areas to reach the rural parts where poverty is rampant.
The region is endowed with abundant surface and underground water resource but currently most amount of water being utilized for irrigation purpose is obtained from surface. The technological and capacity limitations forced the bureau to depend on the surface water and more than 90 percent of the water comes from this resource. But in some dry land areas, underground water is utilized for irrigation in small scale.
As it is known, the nation is vulnerable to the recurring climate change and global warming. As a result, one of the sectors critically affected by the extreme weather condition is the water sector which also threatens the irrigation farm. Asked how the Bureau mitigates the challenge, Dagnenet said that climate change is an obvious threat for irrigation projects so that they primarily apply economic use of water along with awareness creation to the farmers.
He further said the problem is global and Ethiopia is among the severely victimized in this regard. As a result of the stern climate change, numerous water points, ponds, and streams are dried up. Hence, applying recovery mechanism via various means is vital. In general, to overcome the deep rooted problem, the bureau, in collaboration with the regional government, other stakeholders and farmers is working rigorously on the water shade management. In line with this, implementing the green legacy initiative has been taken as a way out.
It is crystal clear that in the rural parts of the country including the Amhara region, farmers cut trees for various purposes such as for household energy consumption, for constructing their houses, for expanding farm lands and making household utensils. Such situation aggravates deforestation, desertification and land degradation which again adversely impacts the agriculture sector. Reflecting his views in this regard, Dagnenet said that clearance of vegetation brings its own negative consequence on water resources.
As the electric energy coverage in the rural part of the region is very limited, the population utilizes bio mass energy for household purpose. Driven by rapid population growth need for additional farmland among the farmers has been elevated which in turn made forest clearance normal and worthy of being accepted. Therefore, to reduce the damage on the environment due to forest clearance, the regional government planned and implemented projects aimed at expanding tree plantation for household energy consumption in the degraded areas.
The utilization of solar energy for lightning purpose at household level has also expanded and in such a way reducing forest clearance will be realized. In addition to these, the regional government’s Energy Bureau and other stakeholders provide energy saving stoves in a fair price to farmers.
Traditionally, farmers were engaged in farming based on the rain water in the winter season in the past which means there was no culture of cultivating irrigation farm. But now as to him, they have developed the culture of irrigation farm in the dry season and they mostly cultivate wheat and vegetables used for local consumption and market. As a result, they enable to raise their income. Following the introduction of irrigation farming, they are able to produce twice and occasionally three times a year and this again helped them gain more chance to change their life style.
As to Dagnenet, the regional Bureau created value chain to gain market to their products. The cooperative association play pivotal role in facilitating the market to their products. Agricultural practice needs various inputs like fertilizer and pesticides. The input should reach the farmers on time otherwise the sector might face challenge and the bureau is working strongly in this regard.
But still there are problems that must be addressed and among others there are conflicts of interest among farmers in the upper and lower river basins. The claim is over usage of water in the river’s upper basin reduces the flow of water to the lower areas and to settle the dispute, discussions have been conducted repeatedly though the problem needs more effort. On the other hand, water demand for irrigation is increasing and such a situation creates stress. Therefore, to bring long lasting solution the regional government should stick on it.
As it is known, in the high land parts of the region, farmers have small plots of land and most of them possessed less than one hectare that makes irrigation challenging. Asked whether farmers use cluster farm or not Dagnenet said that, currently farmers in the high land areas prefer cultivating their small plots of land by irrigation and such practice will continue until the situation is changed.
Contrary to this, vast arable land is available in the lowland parts of the region yet the population living there is small in number. However, cultivating the vast low land parts through irrigation as compared to the high land part is expensive. It needs capital, technology and knowledge which the government ill afford it. The private sector’s participation is needed here as the outcome will be ducky though it needs passing through challenges.
As to Dagnenet, the major challenges the irrigation project is facing currently among others is the skyrocketing price of construction materials such as cement, steel and iron, vehicles, machinery and others. Utilization of the outdated technology in designing dams and canals compromising the quality of the construction is wastage.
Moreover, the limited financial capacity of contractor companies, lack of sufficient qualified personnel and changing of design repeatedly further delayed the projects. Therefore, to alleviate the problem, the government and other stakeholders should strive together, it was underlined.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2023
