Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Events

Enhancing Groundwater Governance through Experimental Games in Ghana

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by Emmanuel Obuobie*, Claudia Ringer*, Hagar El Didi*, Wei Zhang*

Thousands of farmers living in the Keta and Anloga districts of Ghana depend on groundwater from the Keta strip for producing vegetables and other food crops for consumption and income generation. The Keta strip lies between a salty lagoon (Keta lagoon) and the sea (Gulf of Guinea), along the East Coast of Ghana. The two districts fall within the dry equatorial climatic region, which is the driest part of Ghana. The main occupation of the people are farming, fishing and trading. Farming is done all year-round, using groundwater from shallow unconfined aquifers within depths of about 15 m. Crops grown include carrots, tomatoes, pepper, okra, onion, lettuce, potatoes, maize and cassava. Farming in the Keta and Anloga districts is impossible without irrigation because of relatively low rainfall (about 800 mm), a long dry season of about six months, long dry spells within the rainfall season, high annual evaporation (about 1800 mm) and sandy soils.

An irrigator drawing water from a well to irrigate her crops at Whuti – Anloga district, Ghana (Photo credit: Emmanuel Obuobie)

Farmers in the two districts abstract groundwater through large diameter open concrete lined wells and small diameter (2-4 inches) piped tube wells, to irrigate farm sizes between 0.05 and 1 hectares. The groundwater is recharged mainly from rainfall. The recharge rate is relatively high (estimated at about 20% of the annual rainfall). Some of the key challenges that groundwater irrigators are dealing with are declining groundwater tables, insufficient freshwater during the peak of the dry season (February/March) due to low groundwater tables and high evaporation, and saltwater intrusion; all of these impede crop productivity. Most farmers cope by reducing the volume of water used for irrigation but others cope by developing multiple wells for abstracting more water and relocating wells with salty water to locations with freshwater. There are no functioning institutions that support farmer collaboration on water resources; instead farmers operate as individuals. This brings into question the sustainability of groundwater irrigation in the Keta and Anloga districts.

Source: Figure 3 in: Duku et al. (2022).

In December 2022, an intervention in the form of an experimental groundwater game, followed by community discussions of lessons learnt from the game was implemented in 10 communities in the two districts, to improve awareness of the importance of resource governance, with the expectation of enhancing collective action toward more sustainable use and management of groundwater resources, and ultimately to sustain the livelihoods of farmers. The activity was funded by USAID through the Feed the Future Innovation Laboratory for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) project and implemented by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), CSIR-Water Research Institute, the University for Development Studies and the University of Ghana.

In each of the communities, three sets of groundwater games were played by groups of men and women irrigators separately. Each group accessed water from a common source, cultivated crops of their choice and farmers made individual decisions on farm size and number of plots cultivated. It was assumed that only the farm size cultivated had an effect on the volume of groundwater used for simplicity. In the first round of the game, farmers made decisions on farm size without discussing with other members of their group (no communication); in the second round, farmers discussed cultivation ideas with their group members but made individual decision on cultivation. In the last round of the game, farmers communicated within their groups and elected to make rules to govern the farm size cultivated by each farmer and by extension the groundwater resources withdrawn, with sanctions for those farmers who did not comply with the rules (communication with group-elected rules). The game was followed with a debriefing session that included the larger community. The group discussion focused on the sharing of lessons from the groundwater game and farmers’ practical experiences on groundwater management.

Three months after implementing the intervention, an endline survey was conducted in the ten communities and the data were compared to that of a baseline survey, which was conducted prior to the game intervention, to evaluate the effects of the intervention on the communities understanding and management of groundwater resources.

In the baseline survey preceding the games, farmers indicated that, there were no rules or arrangements for managing groundwater in their communities. Irrigators could cultivate as many plots as they wanted and have as many groundwater wells as they could afford, with little or no consideration for the long-term sustainability of the groundwater and their livelihoods. Generally, communities held the belief that groundwater could not be permanently depleted and therefore were strongly opposed to making rules to regulate when and how much to abstract.  

Community debriefing meeting at Woe – Anloga district, Ghana (Photo credit: Emmanuel Obuobie)

Preliminary results from the endline survey show limited actions in response to the intervention at the community level, such as the establishment of institutions or rules on how much groundwater to abstract and when. However, there was an observed improvement in the attendance of community meetings for discussing community development issues including on water, health and hygiene; and improvement in participation in communal labour for cleaning communal facilities and places such as markets, beaches and drains. In addition, communities recalled learning through the game about the depletable nature of groundwater and the need to manage groundwater use. They understood the importance of adopting practices to help manage water use. Community beliefs shifted away from rejection of rules to govern groundwater use (at baseline) to understanding the need for collective action to manage the shared resource, though some communities still maintained that rules would be difficult to establish and enforce. Comparatively, several changes could be observed at the individual level. Actions reported by individual farmers included a reduction in plot size or number of farm plots cultivated, a reduction in number of wells on individual farms; a reduction in cropping intensity, and a reduction in the number of hours irrigated for every round of irrigation.

It might well take several more months or even years to see the full impact of the groundwater intervention. This is not surprising given how long it takes to change long-held understandings and beliefs of how groundwater systems operate. One thing is clear however: we cannot ensure sustainable groundwater-supported livelihoods without changing mental models and the way we develop and manage groundwater in this part of Ghana or anywhere else in the world.

  1. Senior Research Scientist, Water Research Institute – Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana ↩︎
  2. Director, Natural Resources and Resilience – International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), USA ↩︎
  3. Senior Research Analyst; Natural Resources and Resilience – International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), USA ↩︎
  4. Senior Research Fellow; Natural Resources and Resilience – International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), USA ↩︎

ILSSI knowledge sharing workshop in Ethiopia

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by Melkamu Derseh, International Livestock Research Institute

On 25 May 2023, ILSSI organized a workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to share findings and lessons from the ten years of research for development work under the program. Attended by more than 80 participants from within and abroad, keynote speakers included ILRI’s Director General Representative to Ethiopia, State Minister for Irrigation and Lowlands, and representative to the USAID Ethiopia mission. 

The workshop covered sessions on irrigated fodder development, watershed management and groundwater governance for SSI, lessons from public-private sector engagements in scaling SSI technologies, and emerging issues in farmer-led irrigation. Presentations on research results were followed by panel discussions, question and answer and reflections from participants. In addition, graduate fellows sponsored by the program displayed poster presentations of their research results. The deliberations highlighted strong evidence that SSI is an essential gateway to intensification and building resilience in the smallholder system. The results also highlighted the importance of groundwater governance to sustainably use limited water resources. Creating better enabling environments and incentives for private sector investment in SSI were found to be important priority areas that need the attention of relevant stakeholders.

As part of the presentations, two video documentaries, the first about engagements with dairy cooperatives through irrigated fodder development, and the second covering lessons from groundwater governance interventions, were presented. The documentary on ILSSI’s engagement with dairy cooperatives provided evidence on how the research for development intervention impacted the livelihood of dairy producers in the project sites. In the video, cooperative chairs narrate the challenges they faced in accessing better feed for their livestock and market for their produce. Through the ILSSI interventions, the capacity of the cooperative increased and members were able to access technologies to produce and use irrigated fodder. This has increased the confidence of farmers in the cooperative, with membership and milk collection increasing five to eightfold. The cooperatives were able to fulfill basic facilities to create good market linkages for their farm produce, which was a key pull factor for farmers to adopt irrigated fodder. The documentary shows that apart from milk production and marketing, the cooperatives were able to embark on producing forage seed/planting materials for sale to the local market, thereby diversifying their incomes and filling the local demand for forage seeds/planting materials.

The second video on groundwater governance narrates the attitude change that ILSSI intervention brought about in a district where groundwater has been used for vegetable production. Before the intervention, the communities in that district were using groundwater without any consideration for crop water requirements and safe extraction limits to the water resource. Groundwater management trainings allowed the communities to realize the importance of collective actions, with members drafting bylaws and abiding by them to manage and wisely use their water resources. The irrigators now believe they have made the right decisions and would like to see regulatory bylaws enforced beyond their communities.        

A glimpse of hope in the role of private sector engagement for scaling irrigation innovation bundles in Ethiopia

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by Muluken Elias Adamseged and Dagmawi Melaku, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Agriculture is strategically a key sector for Ethiopia, engaging more than two-thirds of the labour force and is predominantly dominated by smallholder farmers and rainfed systems. Given the high climate uncertainty, enriching irrigation access to farmers is at the core development agenda of governmental and non-governmental organizations. While there is limited adoption of irrigation technologies among smallholders, most of the small or household level irrigators are using water pumps that run, mostly, on fossil fuels or electricity. In recent years, the high price increase and unreliable supply of fossil fuels were additional factors encouraging the search for an alternative solution.

These conditions were a part of the background for The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) to co-design and develop innovations with stakeholders. Thus, with funding from the Feed for The Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILLSI). IWMI introduced the solar pump for irrigation purposes for smallholder farmers. To pave the way for backward and forward linkages, the solar-powered innovation is bundled with other innovations including client credit assessment, Pay-As-You go, muti-stakeholder collaboration platforms, and tailored business models. In Ethiopia, ILSSI has been working with stakeholders from the ministries, research centres, universities, and private sectors to enhance learning and decision making on Farmer Led Irrigation development (FLID). The MSD series, through A multi-stakeholder dialogue in 2020; A multi-stakeholder dialogue 2021, has helped to identify the challenges, opportunities, solutions and approaches to scale innovations that support FLID.

Mr. Lemi Assefa-Program Manager at Rensys Engineering Plc. (Photo-Yonas Qoricho)

Throughout this process, private sector actors have played a key role. The results of the 6th MSD in 2023 showed the importance of irrigation innovation bundling, and so the demand for it has been created among the intervention areas. One of the private sector agents reported that he is regularly receiving requests from farmers in the intervention areas. A farmer recently asked the agent “Gashe (sir) can you please bring me the same product (solar pump) like my neighbour Gedamu Moges?” The frequent requests show the good perception and value created among the community, yet also indicate the low capacity of the private sector to reach and fulfil such local demands.

What we have observed from the 6th MSD and in the overall project results is a glimpse of hope in the role of the private sectors for agriculture development in Ethiopia. However, the number of companies in the private sector, specifically engaged in irrigated agriculture in any form, be it technology and input provision, agronomic advisory support schemes and related services, are few in numbers. Given the proportion of small holder farmers in Ethiopia (more than 90%), the private sector’s engagement needs to be incentivized and developed.

Mr. Abraham Endrias-Managing Director, Lersha.(Photo – Yonas Qoricho)

Thus, exploring possibilities on how to keep the momentum of the private sector need to be on the agenda of the stakeholders. Five key aspects on how to engage and develop the private sector for further enhancement of the sector in FLID are as follows:

  1. Supporting the private sectors and their niche initiatives: in the early stages of piloting and implementing the innovations, the private sector has been supported by financial, technical, and non-technical areas. Given the novelty of the innovation, providing some shelter was one of the reasons for the successful implementation . These have enabled them to strengthen their own capacities, develop inclusive business models and minimize risks, and promote their products and services. If not for the support, the idea could have died at the niche level.
  2. Strengthening the multi-stakeholder dialogue: the Agricultural Water Management Task Force (AWM-TF) has co-organised the MSD for the last few years. The platform has provided opportunities for the private sector to understand who the key stakeholders are and how to cooperate with them, and to discuss the key challenges the sector faced. Thus, sustaining the MSD and creating related platforms could benefit the sector.
  3. Improve the institutional setting: the private sector and their initiatives are encountered with institutional, financial, and technical challenges. The delayed grant of Letter of Credit for importing, the lengthy importing process and complex customs services, have been key challenges for implementation. Even after the tax exemption of the solar pumps was rolled out, the implementation and lack of clear guidelines have hampered the supply of the technology for the farmers.
  4. Facilitate access to finance: the private sector has not been able to mobilize and facilitate access to loans for the farmers. One of the reasons for this is due to lack of rules and regulation to lend money for solar pumps. Microfinance institutions are reluctant to lend money for small holder farmers.
  5. Strengthening public private partnership (PPP): the PPP strategy for irrigation sub sector that is currently under development by AWM-TF and partners will be crucial to structure and facilitate partnerships for FLID. During the 6th MSD, stakeholders expressed interest to enrich the strategy with further inputs and dialogues with private actors in irrigated value chains.

Experience sharing among cooperatives: The case of Genet Lerobit dairy cooperative

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The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is undertaking research with three dairy cooperatives (Genet Lerobit, Habebo and Mishigida Etta). Genet Lerobit is in Amhara region, Northern Ethiopia and Habebo and Mishigida Etta are located in SNNPR.  As much as there are similarities between these two locations, there are also variations in cultural practices, crops grown, livestock management and feeding practices. Moreover, the three coops vary in their level of growth and capacity, knowledge and experience in cooperative management and input-out markets.

Therefore, ILRI arranged experience sharing programs among these cooperatives with the aim of fostering their capacities through cross-learning and adopting new working practices and technologies that go well with the respective environments.

The visit

A six-day visit was arranged for 5 cooperative management teams of Genet Lerobit cooperative, from Bahir Dar zuria district, to the two cooperatives in SNNPR during the last week of November 2022. The visit was designed to share the indigenous and acquired knowledge and practices of Habebo and Mishigida Etta dairy cooperatives in green production, fodder marketing, milk handling, processing, and backyard and homestead management by farmers..

The Bahir Dar zuria District visiting team at Habebo Dairy Coperative (SNNPRS)

Visit to green fodder markets

Green fodder market is not well practiced in Bahir Dar zuria district, whereas there is a vibrant green fodder market in Durame, Kedida Gamela district where Mishigida Etta dairy cooperative is located. Farmers around the zonal town and neighboring villages bring in fresh forages (mainly desho grass, Napier grass, native grasses, sugar cane tops,) and seasonal feed like teff straw, maize stover and wheat straw) on the backs of donkeys, mule carts, human heads and backs every day. The buyers are livestock producers mainly from urban areas and farmers from villages who have animals but little or no forage plots.

Lemo unique house construction

Housing of Lemo community is unique in the region (and probably in the country too). The grass -thatched roof (keeps the house cool during the day and warm in the night), wood-rope interwoven ceiling, wood walls tightened with rope from enset or false banana (a drought tolerant and multi-purpose plant unique to the SNNPR), flower decorated homestead gives a unique pleasure to the residents and to anyone who visits the families.

Lemo Housing style (Photo Credit: Fikadu Tessema)

Backyard and homestead management

At Jawe kebele of Lemo woreda individual farmers’ homesteads and backyards are fully vegetated and decorated. Ato Adinew Ayele, one of the many model farmers in Jawe owns crossbred dairy cows, which are well fed and produce milk for family consumption and income generation for the household. Adinew always seeks new innovations and works closely with development and research projects. His backyard is full of improved forages and other native forage varieties. He uses solar pumps to lift water from hand dug wells and irrigate his fodder and vegetable plots.

Wro Bekelech backyard and homestead management (Lemo district, Jawe Kebele) (photo: Fikadu Tessema)

Bekelech is an innovative woman farmer in Jawe. Like that of Adinew, her backyard is also full of forages and vegetables and fruit spices, etc. Bekelech entertains many visitors due to her presentable and popular farm management and enthusiasm.

Visit to Mishigida Etta and Habebo dairy cooperatives – both supported by the ILSSI project

Habebo dairy cooperative was established in 2008 with 18 male and 30 female members and started operation by collecting about 5 liters of fluid milk. Nowadays, it has about 223 members and collects about 500 liters of fluid milk daily.  Mishgida Etta dairy cooperative was established in 2011 with 50 female members. Currently, it has about 250 female members and collects about 100–150 liters of milk daily .

Habebo dairy cooperative produces cream, butter, buttermilk and cottage cheese for consumers in Hossana city and surrounding areas. It also produces yoghurt (Ergo) from buttermilk increasing income for the cooperative. Mishgida Etta produces yoghurt (Ergo), butter and cheese in their dairy product shop and new buildings which were built by the cooperative with the support of ILSSI project and stakeholders.

Habebo dairy cooperative visit Lemo District

Visitors’ reflections

Green fodder marketing is a new practice for Bahir Dar zuria farmers, and the visitors appreciated the potential of such a market to change the lives of farmers. They noted that such markets would create job opportunities for farmers who want to sell forage as a cash crop.  Visitors were encouraged by the competitive price (ETB 6.60/kg of fresh matter) at which green fodder is sold in the local market and vowed to promote it in their locality. They said, “When we go back home, we will teach fellow cooperative members how important it is to start an open fodder market, and link buyers and sellers.” 

“We thank ILRI/ILSSI project for making this visit happen and giving us a chance to learn from our fellow farmers.”

Visitors stated that such markets would also create income generating opportunities for dairy producers who do not have land to grow forages and to landowners who can grow forages but have little or no animals.

They noted that both cooperatives are well organized and functioning properly, and appreciated the valuable information, saying,

IWMI connects locals for collaborative efforts to expand solar irrigation in Ethiopia

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With the support of the USAID-sponsored the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) and Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (AfricaRISING), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) organized a series of workshops, engaging stakeholders to facilitate the scaling of solar-based irrigation in different parts of Ethiopia.

Undertaken in partnership with Rensys Engineering Plc. and in collaboration with local government, the first workshops were organized in September 2022. Contributions from 155 participants helped to establish a better understanding of farmer market segments for solar innovation bundles at Wereta (near Bahir Dar) and Ziway. The workshops engaged farmers and others in the field to discuss land and water access, financial potential for investment, and farmer technology preferences.

In December 2022, IWMI and partners followed up with a workshop on ‘Linking demand and supply for irrigation technologies and services’ in Bahir Dar, Amhara region to develop demand-supply linkages for solar power-based for irrigation. Farmers, NGOs and government officials suggested ways to strengthen market linkages, especially to bridge the severe information and capacity gaps. Farmers expressed concerns about reliability and accessibility of services, recommending that suppliers work with existing local groups trained in irrigation and expand their services to solar technologies. As a starting point for information exchange, an ICT-based message platform was created with Rensys sales agents, extension agents, interested NGO staff, farmers, and young entrepreneurs.

Arranging ways for farmers to see how different solar pump models operate and perform in the field remains the most effective way to connect with potential clients. Rensys Engineering demonstrated the Lorentz Ps2-100 solar pump for 96 participants from NGOs, government offices of agriculture, energy and irrigation, farmer organizations, and private irrigation value chain actors. Over thirty farmers requested a follow up for purchasing a pump from Rensys, while MEDA (Mennonite Development Association) ordered Rainmaker Kubaw solar pumps for one of its projects.

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