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CHAPTER SIX

PROBLEMS OF SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION

DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

This section of the study paid a particular attention to the assessment of small

scale irrigation management activities in the irrigation schemes under

consideration and major problems encountered in small scale irrigation

development.

6.1 Small Scale Irrigation Management Activities

Irrigation scheme management activities involve a wide range of tasks, such as

allocation and distribution of water, operation and maintenance at irrigation canal

and so on. In view of these issues, the survey explored some aspects of small

scale irrigation management and its impact on food security.

Assessing the management aspect of small scale irrigation was found to be vital

in this study as it affects agricultural productivity, and hence households‘ food

security situation. In view of this, IWMI (2005) stated that, devolving management

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responsibility with or without some form of scheme ownership to the irrigating

farmers, improves scheme performance water distribution and productivity, while

saving public resources for agencies to carry out such tasks. Various types of

irrigation management activities are stated by researchers. For instance, study

by Byrnes (1992) clearly states that there are three dimensions of irrigation

management activities. These are water use activities, control structure activities

and organizational activities. They are further explained as follows:

The same study points out that the water use activities are mainly concerned on

the provision of water to crops in an adequate and timely manner. It includes

components like acquisition, allocation, distribution and drainage. Acquisition

here refers to an activity concerning with the acquisition of water from surface or

subsurface sources, either by creating and operating physical structure such as

dams‘ weirs or wells or by actions to obtain some share of an existing supply.

Whereas, allocation refers to the assignment of rights to users thereby

determining who shall have access to water. On the other hand distribution refers

to the physical process of taking the water from a source and dividing it among

users at certain places, in certain amounts, and at certain times. Drainage is

important where excess water must be removed (Byrnes, 1992).

The same study stated that the control structure activities are those activities

which are focusing on the basic structures required for water control such as

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design, construction, operation and maintenance. Design involves the design of

dams‘ diversions or well to acquire water, of systems of rules to allocate it, of

channels and gates to distribute it and of drains to remove it. Construction

involves the construction of the structures to acquire, distribute and remove

water, or implementation of rules that allocate it. Operation refers to the operation

of the structures that acquire, allocate, distribute or remove water according to

some determined plan of allocation. Maintenances are the final control structure

activity. This provides for the continued and efficient acquisition, allocation,

distribution and drainage (Byrnes, 1992).

The work of Byrnes (1992) indicates that organizational activities are those which

are focusing on the efforts to manage the structures that control irrigation water

like resource mobilization, conflict resolution, communication and decision-

making. The activity of resource mobilization entails marshaling management

and utilization of funds manpower, materials, information or other inputs needed

to control water through structures or to undertake various organizational tasks.

The activity of communication entails conveying information about decisions

made, resource requirements etc. to farmer or any other persons involved in

irrigation managements. The activity of decision making entails the processes

including planning involved in making decision about the design, construction,

operation or maintenance of structures; acquisition, allocation, distribution or

drainage of water or the organization deals with these activities.

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As stated by Shimelis, et al ( 2005), in accordance with the federal and regional

policy framework for small-scale irrigation development in Ethiopia, "WUA'' are in

charge of water allocation, distribution, observing the water rights of members,

conflict management and coordination of maintenance activities. The

responsibility for running management of the irrigation systems was delegated to

"WUA" in the hope of enhancing effectiveness, equity and responsiveness in

irrigation management and to ensure sustainability.

Likewise in the study area water users in both irrigation systems have

established their own management structures and constructed internal bylaws

that contribute to efficient and better irrigation management system. In general,

Executive committees, sub-committees and water user teams (WUTs) or Water

user association (WUA) were formed at irrigation system and distribution levels

with the aim to facilitate water control and coordination of maintenance activities.

The committees are one of the essential factors that are responsible for efficient

management of irrigation schemes. However, in the study area the respondents

complained that the committee lacks transparency and accountability to irrigation

water users; and hence they were not able to ensure equity in water distribution.

The committee members were blamed for power abuse, unfairness, lack of

commitment, and above all not abide by the internal bylaws. In this regard a vast

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majority of the respondents (73 percent) from both irrigation schemes reported

that the committees were not held accountable through legal processes; they did

not practice the overall management activities according to the established

internal bylaws.

6.2 Small Scale Irrigation Development Problems

Irrigation development intervention and better access to irrigation enables rural

people to diversify their income sources and contribute a lot to short-term and

long term alleviation of social problems. Small-scale irrigation in particular can

promote rural food security, poverty alleviation and adaptation to climate change.

It enables households to generate more income and in some cases transform

their livelihoods. This is mainly because, irrigation development helps to sustain

and increase agricultural production, especially in areas where rainfall is

unreliable and fail to come. However, the performance and effectiveness of

small-scale irrigation schemes are constrained by multidimensional problems that

are ranging from individual farmers attitude to institutional arrangements.

Therefore, the survey attempts to identify major constraints that are challenging

households of the study area in irrigation development and performance of

irrigation agriculture. To this effect, in the undergoing section the analysis and

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discussion of the data obtained on the perception and experiences of the

sampled households has been presented.

6.2.1 Irrigation Water Management:-Allocation and

Distribution

Water distribution is the main issue in any irrigation schemes. The most

important performance indicators in the distribution of irrigation water include

adequacy, timeliness and equity in the supply of water.

The WUA is the lowest organizational structure established in the area. The

major tasks of the WUA are to decide on the schedule for water distribution, to

plan and organize canal clearance, and to solve problems arising from using

water in the scheme. The study identified that each irrigation schemes has its

own Water Users Association (WUA) that are responsible for coordinating the

distribution of water. The WUA has nominated an individual who is responsible to

open gate as per the program of each farm households.

The descriptive statistics revealed that 62.1 percent of respondents reported that

they could not get enough water for their farm activities when they need. Out of

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them the largest number, 86.5 percent reported that the shortage is due to water

theft, whereas 13.5 percent of them responded that it is due to water scarcity.

The study also tried to identify if there is any relationship between water

distribution and location of the household to the schemes. Accordingly, the

survey results revealed that Water Committees were not able to ensure equity in

water distribution. Head-end farmers had better access to irrigation water owing

to their proximity to the headwork (location advantage). Sampled informants

reported that head-end irrigators and, powerful and rich socioeconomic groups

have been benefited more.

The survey result in table 15 revealed 75.3 percent of the respondents

responded that head- end irrigators get enough water and 16.0 percent of them

said that rich and powerful farmers get enough water. Only 8.7 percent of the

respondents reported that farmers with large family size get enough water for

their farm activity (table 6.1). Therefore, the survey proved that location plays a

significant role with regard to water distribution that is, those farmers that are

located in the upper part of the scheme benefit more.

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Table 0.1 Households’ Opinion distribution of water by Social-

economic groups

Source: Survey result (2012)

Furthermore, in the study area in both irrigation schemes there are water

committees who are in charge of water allocation. The committee runs the water

allocation activities in coordination with irrigation agronomists and Development

Agents (DA) that are assigned at each PAs. They allocate water and prepare

Characteristics Households Opinion by irrigation schemes

and location

Sirima Irrigation

Schemes

Bora-Galmo

Irrigation Schemes

Total HH

Count % Count % Count %

Farmers with large

family size

8 8.0 5 10.0 13 8.7

Head-end farmers 73 73.0 40 80.0 113 75.3

Rich and powerful

farmers

16 16.0 8 16.0 24 16.0

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rotational schedules. However, water users expressed that Water allocation

made by the ‗Water Users association (WUA) committee has certain limitations in

terms of implementation, mainly due to random water allocation. The study

confirms that in the entire scheme considered by this survey, there has been no

standardized irrigation (watering) interval to each crop cultivated; Water is

distributed by turns of equal duration throughout the irrigation season simply

following spatial order of plots, regardless of the crop cultivated. Thus, poor

distribution system and inefficient use of irrigation water resource is the

commonly observed problems of small-scale irrigation schemes in the study

area.

The study also identified that absence of sanction on water theft and illegal water

users (those diverting the water course to one‘s farm land out of turn) was

complained as the main administrative problem in relation with water distribution.

About 84.0 percent of the sample households indicated that absence of sanction

on illegal water users (who diverted water to their own land without turn) is the

major administrative problem that encourages water theft and illegal water use.

6.2.2 Conflict Management

Conflict/dispute over irrigation water users commonly occur between irrigators in

the schemes and upstream traditional irrigators, and among irrigators themselves

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within the irrigation schemes. According to the survey results 66.7 % of water

users were reported that there was conflict arising from water theft/ using water

out of turn and they also explained that were dissatisfied with the WUA handling

of the matters. In the study area theft and illegal use of water is found to be the

main reason for such conflict. The upstream community often uses more amount

of water than that of downstream irrigators. This creates conflict between

upstream and downstream water users.

The study also showed that in Sirima and Bora-Galmo irrigation schemes 68.6

percent and 58.8 percent of sampled respondents reported that they have faced

conflicts, respectively. This implies that the WUA committees are subjected to

poor coordination that affects the proper allocation and fair distribution of water in

the schemes under study.

Even though, households in both irrigation schemes have documented bylaws to

rule the proper functioning of water distribution and penalize illegal water users,

households responded that whenever there is conflict because of water theft they

resolve the issue not by referring to bylaws instead traditionally through

elderlies. The informants responded that this weak system of penalizing illegal

water users encourages illegal waters users to continue behaving illegally.

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6.2.3 Maintenance of Irrigation Systems

Maintenance of irrigation schemes includes cleaning of canals when filled with

grass and mud, mending the canal when there is damage or broken, which

enables the canal to be functioning properly and protect water lose. In this

regard, the survey identified that, in the study area farmers undertake canal

cleaning and system maintenance activities under the leadership of the water

committee with the assistance of DAs. The evidence obtained from interview

revealed most of the time members contribute labor for maintenance.

Therefore, concerning maintenance activity issue the survey disclosed that

maintenance is carried out twice a year but most of the time very irregularly in

both schemes. The result of the descriptive statistics indicates that 5.33%,

10.00%, 8.67%, 18.67% and 57.33% of the sample respondents were witnessed

the maintenance of the irrigation in the study area was very good; good, fair,

poor and very poor, respectively (table 6.2).

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Table 0.2: Households’ opinion distribution about maintenance of the

schemes

Source: Survey Result (2012)

In both irrigation schemes it has been observed that the canal networks were

deteriorated or damaged at its some parts. About 88 percent of the respondents

witnessed that the major causes of the canal damage were due to breaking of

canals to extract water by illegal means. Moreover, it has also been observed

Description Number and Percent of Irrigators

Sirima Irrigation

Scheme

Bora-Galmo

Irrigation Scheme

Total HH

Count Percent Count Percent Count Percent

Very good 2 2.0 6 12.0 8 5.33

Good 6 6.0 9 18.0 15 10.00

Fair 10 10.0 3 6.0 13 8.67

Poor 18 18.0 10 20.0 28 18.67

Very Poor 64 64.0 22 44.0 86 57.33

Total 100 100.0 50 100.0 150 100.0

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that turnouts were far apart and not evenly distributed; as a result irrigators break

canals and extract water where there is no turnout; implying that technical

problems in design and construction have contributed to the deterioration of the

scheme, in addition to the organizational and management weaknesses.

6.2.4 Agricultural Inputs and Support Services

Various studies in Ethiopia have proven that the success of small scale irrigation

partly depends on appropriate application of modern farm inputs such as

chemical fertilizers; improved seeds and herbicides and other support services.

Therefore, utilization of modern farm inputs plays a significant role in increasing

agricultural productivity and enhances farm households‘ food security status.

However, the survey result shows the farmers across the study site were found

to be not satisfied in using such modern farm inputs, mainly due to unavailability

(limited supply) and unaffordability(high price) to farmers. The proportion of farm

households using improved such modern agricultural below recommended level.

Improved seeds

The survey result revealed only 32% and 38% of the sample households ever

used seeds of improved vegetable and some cereal crop varieties in study area,

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respectively. About 39 and 23 percent of the sample households in Sirima and

Bora-Galmo irrigation schemes are using improved seeds only for some types of

crops, respectively. Limited supply and high prices were blamed to be the main

constraints against utilization of this input. In general, lack of vegetable seeds

and fruit seedlings has been identified to be another problem for small scale

irrigators in the study area.

Chemical fertilizers

The high price of chemical fertilizers is complained by respondents as a major

problem in the study area. The price of imported inputs such as chemical fertilizer

and fuel (for motor pump) has increased over time. About 54 % of the sample

farmers reported that lack of applying chemical fertilizers of adequate quantity is

complained by sampled households to be among major problems of small scale

irrigation development in the study area. Moreover, the sampled respondents

strongly claimed that the prices of fertilizers are getting higher from time to time.

Herbicides and Pesticides

Chemicals like pesticides and herbicides are also identified costly applied.

Therefore, in the study area crop diseases issue is another problem that claimed

by farm households. According to farmers view across the sites, decline in

productivity was strongly associated with prevalence of pests and diseases in the

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system. The survey proved that farmers of the study area intensively cultivate the

same crops for long periods of time. For instance, Sweet potato was repeatedly

grown over the field. In addition to the loss of productivity and fertility, this

cultivation strategy facilitates crop disease. The study identified that herbicides

and pesticides, to control these problems, are costly for farmers to purchase and

they could not get at a critical time when they are required. Above all, irrigators

have not regularly been supplied with these support services. Therefore,

diseases and pests can limit the economic benefits of small-scale irrigation

activities in the study area.

Furthermore, household interviews confirmed that lack of spare parts for motor

pumps were the main causes for reduced efficiency in small-scale irrigation in the

study area. Respondents said that since we cannot get spare parts at local

market pumps are kept for an easy damage without function for long time. In

general according to user‘s explanation; frequent damage of the pump, lack of

awareness of how to operate, cost of fuel and lack of credit are the main

problems related to motor pump irrigation in the study site.

6.2.5 Market and Marketing Facility

Marketing facilities is one of the most powerful factors greatly stimulating

agricultural productions of an area. Hence, there is a positive association

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between efficient market and development of irrigation agriculture. Although not

directly related to the functioning of irrigation systems, lack of market and

marketing facilities have been proven to be a problem of small scale irrigators in

the study area. Vegetables like onion, tomato, potato and the like are perishable

and bulky crops, so an efficient marketing channel is necessary.

However, the study area marketing system does not always facilitate outcomes

desired by farmers. One reason is the similarity of products and marketing

patterns, which leads to a high availability and low prices during the main

marketing period. Moreover, due to absence of efficient storage system in the

study area, farmers must sell products within a very short time, often at what they

consider low prices.

Using the survey an investigation was made on how farmers run marketing

activities in their locality. Consequently, the result imparts that majority of sample

households (81 %) sold their produce for nearby market centers, at Haro Dumal

only whereas some of respondents (19%) did not sell farm products totally. In

general, the majority (67.7 percent) of the sampled households reported that

there is a market problem for their produces. The problem is much severe when

it comes to irrigation users who produce vegetables and fruits. About 75.3

percent of respondents from irrigating households claimed that lower price for

their product is mainly caused by market constraint. Because vegetables and

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fruits are highly perishable, as a result farmers are forced to dump their produce

at low prices that market offered.

Furthermore, market information plays a vital role in small scale irrigation

participation and escalating households‘ gross income. Besides, purchasing of

the right agricultural inputs at the right time and supplying of the product to the

right consumer with a reasonable intermediary transaction cost is possible with

the existence of market information.

However, respondents witnessed that because of lack of getting reliable market

information and absence of links with local buyers and sellers in their vicinity they

are not in a position to get better benefit in trading of agricultural commodities.

Thus, all farmers responded that there is no market information center; there is

no institution involved in provision of and accessing of marketing information in

the study area.