Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

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Irrigating fodder crops to improve nutrition for animals and people in Ethiopia

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When livestock is fed high-quality fodder, produced with the help of irrigation, they deliver better milk and meat, benefitting the nutritional health of their keepers and consumers. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) and its partners are investigating best-bet options for where and how to expand the production of irrigated fodder in Ethiopia.

With urbanization, increasing incomes, and a growing population, the demand for animal-based products such as beef and milk is on the rise in Ethiopia. The livestock sector not only provides rural dwellers with cash income, draft power, and transportation, it also serves as an important source of food and nutrition for the entire country. Studies have shown that when livestock keepers are able to increase milk production and provide milk for the household, the nutritional health of children below the age of five is stabilized.

When farmers are able to increase milk production, the nutritional health of children is stabilized. Photo: Melkamu Deresh/ILRI.

However, the health and productivity of livestock is hampered by shortages of livestock feed, seasonality of feed supply, and unreliable feed quality. Weak market linkages also make it difficult for livestock keepers to access commercial feed, though fodder markets are growing in Ethiopia. A low feed supply compromises the supply of milk and meat, making it difficult to fulfill the nutritional needs of Ethiopians.

ILSSI, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems (LSIL) have been collaborating to identify where and how to expand fodder production—toward ensuring a steady supply with higher quality—using promising small scale irrigation practices.

Almost 20 percent of Ethiopia’s land is suitable for irrigated fodder

The Government of Ethiopia and donor partners have expressed interest in expanding fodder production under irrigation. To contribute to national decision-making and planning, ILSSI and partners have mapped where such expansion can sustainably be done.

This work began with field studies on irrigation opportunities for fodder production. Those studies show high potential for irrigating certain fodder species and for directing that feed to crossbred animals for higher productivity. Equally important, farmers saw the trials and began to irrigate fodder to meet demand in their local areas, pointing to the possibility for scaling.

To pinpoint where to scale these practices, ILSSI scientists selected promising fodder types, chosen to fit into the different agro-ecological settings in the country. They then mapped areas suitable for these fodder types, taking into account factors such as climate, soil, infrastructure, and market access. The results indicated that, with the use of small scale irrigation, ~31% of the country (about 350,500 km2) is highly suitable for producing desho (Pennisetum glaucifolium), followed by vetch (Vicia sativa) (23%) and Napier (Pennisetum purpureum) (20%).

The factors used to determine the suitability of land for irrigated fodder production include climate (rainfall and evaporation), soil (soil texture, pH, and soil depth), land use, and slope as well as access to markets and feed demand.
A preliminary mapping of land suitable for irrigated Napier production. The most suitable area was assessed to be 92 percent suitable, whereas the least appropriate area was assessed to be only 20 percent suitable. Land is considered suitable at 80 percent and above.

Local interest and impact of irrigated fodder

Since 2015, ILSSI has been collaborating with ILRI and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), as well as local partners such as Bahir Dar University, Amhara Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI), and Southern Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), to demonstrate and promote the production of irrigated fodder. Continuous engagement with farmers through on-farm trials and demonstrations piqued farmers’ interest in irrigated fodder production.

For example, in the Robit Bata Kebele of Bahir Dar Zuria district, 15 farmers participated in evaluating water productivity and nutritional quality of fodder during the first year of the project, in 2015. They allocated plots of land ranging between 50 and 140 m2 per household for Napier grass production. Water for irrigation was sourced from shallow groundwater wells, varying in depth between 6 and 17 meters. The continued farmer participation and strong collaboration with local partners meant that more farmers adopted the practice, reaching 400 farmers by 2018, and with many households allocating as much as 1,000 m2 for irrigated fodder.

The introduction of irrigated fodder production has helped the farmers increase their incomes through milk production and cattle fattening. The farmers are embracing the practice and now fodder and milk markets are emerging. According to Aberra Adie, feed and forages researcher with ILRI, the trial has shifted farmers’ preferences:

“Before the introduction of irrigated fodder, farmers used irrigation to grow khat—a stimulant perennial cash crop. In the region, khat is not socially and religiously acceptable, but it used to earn them a good profit. However, since the introduction of irrigated fodder, farmers are abandoning khat in favor of forage farming. The farmers also indicated that fodder irrigation is a lot easier than khat production, which needs lots of water and pesticide.”

Partnering with cooperatives and scaling within the market system

Currently, ILRI is partnering with multiple farmer cooperatives, the private sector and regional extension offices in Ethiopia to scale up irrigated fodder production.

In the ILSSI project sites, identified as most suitable for irrigated fodder, ILRI is facilitating strong partnerships between private enterprises and emerging farmer cooperatives to work in forage seed production and marketing. The engagement is expected to identify the favorable conditions for smallholder farmers to access forage seeds and irrigation facilities. Specific attention is being given to opportunities for women in irrigated fodder and dairy value chains.

ILRI is also collaborating with other projects to increase the awareness and practice of irrigated fodder production across the country, serving development outcomes on food security, nutrition, poverty alleviation, and sustainable use of ecosystems.

Irrigated fodder production can help farmers increase their incomes through milk production and cattle fattening. Photo: ILRI.

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This news story was put together with significant contributions from Abeyou Worqlul and Yihun Dile (Texas A & M University) & Melkamu Derseh and Aberra Adie (ILRI).

Webinar: Potential and options for irrigated fodder production shared with policymakers and practitioners in Ethiopia

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In a recent webinar, scientists presented Ethiopian policymakers and practitioners with promising findings on the potential for irrigated production of livestock fodder, which could help meet important income and nutrition gaps.

Dr. Gbola Adesogan, Professor and Director of the Feed the Future Livestock Systems Innovation Lab (LSIL), opened the webinar with remarks on how insufficient feed has been identified as main constraint to livestock production in Ethiopia.

“Our objective is to share results to inform decisions and shape further investments and research, ” he said. “It is very important to promote research to support policy and further funding for this topic, not only in Ethiopia, but across East and West Africa.”

The event, which took place on December 2, 2020, was organized by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) with support from LSIL and in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). More than 30 participants had accepted the invitation to join discussions, and they represented science institutions, development and donor organizations as well as ministries and other government offices.

The importance of the research presented was underscored by Dr. Yirgalem Gebremeskel, Livestock Program Management Specialist and Tech Advisor at USAID, which has funded the work:

“Despite having Africa’s largest livestock population, Ethiopia’s livestock sector has not reached its full potential, which can be attributed to many factors, high among them shortage of feed and low-quality feed.”

Webinar on irrigated fodder in Ethiopia: Suitability and potential

Download presentations by ILSSI scientists on irrigated fodder suitability and potential in Ethiopia.

Significant potential could be converted into big benefits

Through land suitability analysis, scientists from Texas A & M University have been able to identify areas across the country suitable for irrigated production of different types of fodder crops.

“As you can see the western part of the country is suitable for Napier grass production, while the eastern part is highly suitable for Alfalfa, ” said Dr. Abeyou Worqlul, scientist at Texas A & M. “The suitable areas have groundwater reserves that can be tapped via water-lifting technologies and be used for irrigation.”

In fact, Dr. Yihun Tadele, also of Texas A & M, explained that Ethiopia in general has a high amount of water resources that can be used for irrigation.

“But we need to use both green and blue water resources in an integrated manner,” he specified, referring to the blue water in rivers and aquifers, while green water is naturally infiltrated rain in soil.

Finally, Jean Claude Bizimana, Economist at Texas A & M, explained how modeling different scenarios – considering for example improved crossbred cow breeds – has provided a sense of the economic and nutritional potential of irrigated fodder production.

“Use of improved feed and breed can increase households’ nutritional status, but also their incomes,” he concluded.

Growing interest for brand-new intervention in the livestock sector

The research results on suitability and impacts have already been grounded in field trials, in which a growing number of farmers have seen very promising results, both in terms of the quality of fodder produced and the resulting increases in milk yields and incomes.

“Farmers were able to produce a high amount of forage biomass of good nutritional value from small plots,” explained Dr. Melkamu Derseh, Scientist, Livestock Feeds and Nutrition, at ILRI.

While the trials started out with just a few farmers, more have volunteered to join as the work progressed.

“Awareness has been created and interest is increasing. The demand for forage planting materials and irrigation technologies has also increased, especially for the newly introduced solar pumps,” he said.

Melkamu noted that barriers currently hampering broad scaling of irrigated fodder production include limited access to high-quality cow breeds and forage planting materials as well as the high price of irrigation technologies. ILSSI is working to overcome such barriers, including via partnerships with dairy cooperatives, which could start providing their members with forage seeds and thus provide an informal seed distribution system.

To wrap up discussions, Belete Bantero, Senior Transformation Agenda Specialist II at Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), offered his perspectives. He recalled the two year-drought that wrecked havoc in Ethiopia between 2016 and 2018.

“It caused the loss of over 30,000 livestock because of lack of livestock feed.” He went on to say that “this is interesting and really vital work – it’s very evidence based, it’s timely and it’s a brand new intervention, as we have not previously related the livestock sector with irrigation.”

ILSSI scientists and partners will continue efforts to scale up irrigated fodder production in Ethiopia, including through partnerships with dairy cooperatives and the private sector.

To learn more:

Student interview: Identifying the best water management practices and technologies for sustainable irrigation in Ethiopia

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Desalegn Tegegne is a research officer at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and based in the Nile Basin and East Africa Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He joined the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) capacity development program as a graduate student in 2015, while he completing his MSc degree at Arba Minch University. ILSSI supported his MSc thesis, “Assessment of water demand, water and crop productivity of the selected fodder varieties under small scale irrigation using wetting front detectors”.

What did you learn from the research you undertook on the use of technologies to improve water productivity on selected fodder crops?

Although irrigation could potentially boost the production of livestock fodder, this practice is not common in Ethiopia. Therefore, we need to integrate fodder production with crop production to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor. Most of the time, farmers face a problem of not having enough fodder to feed their cattle. At the end of dry season, when it is time for farmers to plow their fields, draft animals are weak due to feed shortages. However, feed shortages occur not only during the dry season, but all year. At the same time, the potential irrigable land is underutilized due to a scarcity of surface water, but despite the presence of shallow groundwater.

Desalegn Tegegne joined ILSSI’s capacity development program in 2015. He now works with the International Water Management Institute in Ethiopia.

To overcome these challenges, IWMI—under the ILSSI project—has identified and piloted water-lifting technologies for small scale irrigators as well as irrigation-scheduling technologies for irrigated fodder production in accordance with the available water sources. Farmers who used the on-farm water management technologies, such as wetting-front detectors, saved on water for irrigation, while improving their fodder crop and water productivity. According to my research findings, providing appropriate water management advice needs to be combined with information on appropriate water-lifting devices, as a function of the available water resources.

How, in your view, can innovative technologies such as wetting-front detectors, support farmers to irrigate more and more efficiently?

Proper on-farm irrigation practices improve the yield per unit area of land and per unit of water applied, because they facilitate equal water distribution and uniform crop growth, while preventing drainage and nutrient leaching and loss. In this way, technologies such as wetting-front detectors can guide farmers’ irrigation and in that way improve crop and water productivity.

  • Installation.
  • Wetting-front detector.
  • Irrigating fodder crops.
  • Farmer training.
  • Harvested fodder crops, ready for livestock.

How have you applied this learning and how does it influence your current work?

Given that my educational background is in water resources, irrigation management, and engineering, working on irrigation technologies is interesting for me. The technologies we used for field experiments were simple to use and they helped farmers to manage their irrigation. That’s why the field experiments were successful. My current work in IWMI focuses on analyzing soil moisture and nutrients as well as evaluating crop and water productivity of different on-farm water management tools. In that way, all the practical lessons I got while I did my MSc under the ILSSI’s capacity development program were very useful for my current work. 

What is your view on the role of irrigation—especially small scale—as climate change impacts intensify?

Irrigation is one way to improve farmers’ resilience under changing climatic conditions, through increasing food production. Using available surface water and groundwater resources, small scale irrigation can positively contribute to intensifying crop–livestock mixed farming systems. It is also a means of income generation for the smallholders.

What do you hope to achieve as a result of your current work?

In my current work from IWMI, I am planning to scale out the on-farm water management technologies, such as wetting-front detectors and chameleon sensors. These technologies are essential for smallholder farmers to improve their irrigation efficiency and increase crop and water productivity. For effective scaling of best on-farm water management practices, I will train farmers and extension agents.

Student interview: Finding the right crop varieties for irrigated fodder production and livestock benefits in Ethiopia

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Misba Abdela is a lecturer and PhD student at Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, in Ethiopia. In March 2020, he joined the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) as a PhD graduate fellow, supported by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI). Abdela previously worked with ILSSI researchers to study the effect of deep tillage on groundwater recharge as part of his MSc work.

Misba Abdela doing fieldwork in Ethiopia. Photo: Fikadu Tessema.

You have won a fellowship to conduct your PhD research on irrigated fodder cultivations. How did you get interested in this topic?

In Ethiopia, livestock play a vital role in smallholders’ livelihood by providing food, cash income, farm power, and other inputs such as manure to improve crop production. However, the productivity of livestock has remained very low due to various constraints, with feed shortages—both in quantity and quality—being the major one.

Feed shortages are aggravated by limited investment in feed and forage development and by the increased expansion of cropland, to the extent of encroaching into grazing land. As a result, the ‘business-as-usual’ approach to livestock feed sourcing is no longer a viable option, and there is an urgent need to optimally use available land, water, and capital resources to produce high-quality fodder for a sustainable livestock feed supply and production system. The increasing demand for livestock products, together with the shortage of feed and of the complex layers of challenges posed by climate change, justifies the need for alternative feed production and supply systems in the nation.

Before I joined this fellowship, I was doing research on farmer-managed irrigated fodder production, funded by the Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium (ASMC) project in collaboration with ILRI and Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, under which farmers received solar pumps (Maji pumps) and water storage tanks for irrigation use. While conducting this research, I understood farmers’ willingness to engage more in fodder production and their interest in potential alternative fodder crops with higher regenerative capacity and biomass yield per unit of land. Therefore, I was very happy when I got the opportunity to continue my PhD research in the area of irrigated fodder production. 

What’s a poorly understood aspect of irrigated fodder cultivation?

Information on the suitability of fodder varieties, and their responses to nutrient and water when they are produced under irrigation, is largely lacking in the Highlands of Ethiopia. Therefore, the main aim of our study is to investigate the performances of selected fodder species under different nutrient and moisture-input regimes.

Particularly, our study will explore yields and nutritional value of ten selected species and cultivars of fodder under optimal moisture conditions, under the conditions of drought stress, and under different nutrient application rates. We will also explore viable economic and agronomic scenarios of irrigated fodder production within the smallholder farmer setting in Ethiopia.

Misba Abdela working to identify fodder varieties with the highest biomass per unit of land. Photo: Fikadu Tessema.

What would be the gains of scaling up irrigated fodder production and who could benefit?

Scaling up fodder production would have great benefits. It would solve the feed challenge in local communities. Availability of a high-producing forage for livestock would benefit women by reducing the time they spend looking for feed; it would improve food security and household nutrition because of improved livestock productivity (more milk and milk products such as cheese and butter).

Also, producing high-quality fodder crops would reduce free grazing and allow farmers to adopt a ‘cut-and-carry feeding system’ – cutting and carrying feed to the animals in their corrals, rather than letting the animals roam free. In turn, zero or reduced grazing then create opportunity for girls to attend school as it is otherwise often the girls who are often kept home from school to look after the cattle.

Fodder production would also bring other benefits to the landscape: Fodder crops like Napier grass are deep rooted, and planting these on a large scale would minimize runoff as well as soil and nutrient loss from farm fields. This would result in reduced soil nutrient losses and contaminant fluxes into Lake Tana, and it would help to combat the rapidly expanding water hyacinth, which is endangering the lake. At a larger scale, limiting the growth of water hyacinth will in turn help to regulate water flow downstream, to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) reservoir.  

What are the biggest challenges to making irrigated fodder cultivation more widespread?

Identifying the major challenges to making irrigated fodder production more widespread might require more studies. Some of the major challenges may include farmers’ awareness in the area of irrigated fodder – for example, farmers might prefer to produce and irrigate vegetables or cereal crops rather than fodder crops due to a lack of knowledge on the comparative advantages. Another major challenge is market linkages, as it is difficult for farmers to get seeds of different fodder crops and to sell the excess fodder that they produced. 

What do you hope your work can contribute to in the future?

At the end of this research, we hope we will be able to identify the best fodder crops that are suitable for the agro-climatic conditions of the Ethiopian Highlands. Improved fodder crops—both in quantity and quality—would mean fodders with higher biomass per unit of land, higher regenerative capacity, higher production per unit of water and nutrients inputs, higher nutritional quality, and higher cost-benefit ratios. Identifying these best-bet fodder crops would solve the feed problem of the communities, improving the livestock production, incomes, and livelihoods of farmers in the nation. 

Water resources and climate

Understanding water availability for climate adaptation

Small scale irrigation enables farmers to adapt to climate change and build resilience to extreme weather events. Proper management of water resources is needed to avoid maladaptation and support long-term resilience. That’s why a significant part of ILSSI’s efforts is focused on supporting decision-makers to understand where and how water can be sustainably used for irrigation, using state of the art techniques. These efforts include co-designing, employing and strengthening capacity for analytical tools that can reveal competing demands, risks of water insecurity and threats to water quality. ILSSI also trials improved irrigated farming practices that can help safeguard water resources and develop farmer practices to sustainably increase irrigation. 

Challenges

While water resources are currently underutilized in agricultural production in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, depletion is already occurring in some areas of Southeast Asia. In addition, competition over water resources is increasing around the world between urban and rural, agriculture and industry, domestic and productive users. As small scale irrigation expands with intensified production, it also poses high risks to water quality and therefore, ecosystem and human health. Moreover, farmer led irrigation is often excluded from formal water user groups and other collective management mechanisms, as well as public agencies. To support climate adaptation and manage the tradeoffs, ILSSI is addressing the information and capacity needs for monitoring and governing water and other natural resources.  

Comoé dam in Burkina Faso
Photo: Hervé Lévite/IWMI

Top lessons

Identify water availability and use in a basin to expand irrigation sustainably

Water resources in Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, and in areas of Mali, are sufficient to allow farmers to sustainably expand irrigation, which would result in improved incomes and livelihoods for millions. However, water availability differs across space and time. In most areas, surface and groundwater resources need to be used conjunctively and with good tools and practices for on-farm water management. Treating rainfall and groundwater as one interconnected system supports a sustainable expansion of small scale irrigation. Competing water demands, for domestic and productive uses, can be identified and better managed through the use of Water Accounting+. Water Accounting+ is an internationally recognized and standardized framework for allocating available water resources across uses and sectors. Tools such as Water Accounting+ can be central to irrigation planning, enabling identification of potential water insecurity risks under current and future climatic conditions. 

Modelling tools, such as ILSSI’s integrated decision support system (IDSS), is used to assess the impacts of farmer-led irrigation at the watershed and field-scale levels. This can help inform plans for expansion of small scale irrigation. ILSSI also works with institutions at multiple levels to build modelling skills in order to evaluate the impacts of farmer-led irrigation on water resource risks, agricultural production, environmental sustainability, household income and nutrition. 

Understand shallow groundwater dynamics and enhance recharge

Shallow groundwater represents a valuable resource to smallholders, but must be well managed at the plot level, as well as at watershed and community levels. Farmers can tap into shallow groundwater using manual, diesel or solar-powered pumps. This allows them to irrigate during the dry season and complement rainfed production for one or two seasons (depending on the location). 

Spatial information on groundwater depth and aquifer productivity can help in identifying irrigated land potential under current, or climate change, conditions. Such information can also aid in assessing suitability for irrigation technologies such as solar. When planning for small scale irrigation it is important to know how much water is available after the rainy season as this would influence crop and irrigation investment choices. In the Ethiopian Highlands, for example, water levels in shallow wells fluctuate by 2 – 15 meters, as the dry season advances, depending on where they are located in the watershed. The majority of these wells can only provide significant irrigation inputs during the first three months of the eight month-long dry season unless they are located at the bottom of a valley. 

Facilitating groundwater recharge, through suitable water and soil management in the watershed, is key to increasing the availability of water for irrigation during the following dry season. For example, employing a newly developed plow – the berken plow – can help farmers break up the hard crust formed below the surface of some soils in the Ethiopian Highlands. This results in reduced rainwater runoff, limits soil disturbance and can lead to increased soil moisture.

Prioritize water quality, while intensifying agricultural production

Intensification of agricultural practices is often associated with expansion of FLI. Increased use of agrochemicals poses a potential risk of water pollution. Institutions should be strengthened alongside irrigation expansion to protect water resources. As agriculture intensifies, national, basin and watershed level institutions should be supported in ways that enable them to identify suitable areas for irrigation development. It is crucial that they are well placed to assess any potential water pollution impacts from agro-chemicals resulting from agricultural intensification facilitated by the irrigation. In some cases, new guidance needs to be created to set allowable levels of chemicals in water bodies. 

Achieve greater yields and reduced water use through conservation agriculture

Conservation agriculture practices contribute to a range of farmer benefits, while also improving soil health and reducing negative environmental impacts. Benefits include: increased crop yields, reduced yield variability, increased profit from agricultural activities, and enhanced nutritional outcomes. For example, in one test site in Ethiopia, onion production through conservation agriculture achieved 35% higher yields compared to conventional agriculture. The application of soil cover on onion plots reduced soil evaporation by 26% compared to conventional tillage, while it also added organic matter to the soil. Conservation agriculture with drip irrigation in Ethiopia and Ghana has been found to reduce water use by between 18-45%, depending on the crop type, resulting in a range of crop yield increases (in some cases almost double), compared to conventional tillage. Soil moisture after irrigation was also higher under conservation agriculture. 

Adapt irrigation practices through irrigation learning tools

Irrigation learning tools, such as wetting front detector systems, enable farmers to achieve higher water productivity, increased yields, and improvements in the quality of produce. For example, in Dangishta, Ethiopia, these tools resulted in a doubling of onion yields when farmers used manual water lifting devices. In cases where motorized pumps were used, irrigation learning tools helped farmers achieve crop yield increases of up to 21%, while reducing water use by up to 44%. 

Govern shared resources at the community level for adaptability and resilience

At the community level, participant games can improve local understanding of groundwater-related interdependences, for strengthened management of shared resources. In addition, ILSSI examines the use of pumped water for multiple purposes. This emphasizes the need for adaptive community and watershed level governance of conjunctive water use. 

DOWNLOAD: ILSSI brief on water resources

                 Contributing to solutions

Providing information on water resources for sustainable irrigation investments

Water resources in Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, and areas of Mali, are sufficient to allow farmers to sustainably expand irrigation; shallow groundwater offers potential for irrigation in many countries. Facilitating groundwater recharge is therefore, key to increasing the availability and sustainability of water for irrigation. ILSSI uses Water Accounting, an Integrated Decision Support System suite of models, and Agent Based Modelling, among others, to examine water availability, potential for irrigation adoption, risks to water scarcity and climate scenarios. At the same time, we develop the capacity of public and research sectors to assess, monitor and plan resource use toward enhanced sustainability. To support the private sector, ILSSI has developed suitability mapping tools that enable decision-making about new markets for solar irrigation. 

Providing evidence for sustainable water and land interventions

 Conservation agriculture practices contribute to a range of farm-level improvements, including greater yields and reduced water usage. ILSSI with North Carolina A & T and local partners quantified and modeled the benefits of CA for both farmers and natural resource sustainability. ILSSI research partners are also assessing the impact of water and land management techniques – such as bunding, contouring and in situ agriculture water management – on livelihoods.  

Testing approaches to improve water use at multiple scales

Misuse of water at field level can have suboptimal effects on production. For example, over-irrigating causes problems with soils, nutrients and water quality. However, managing water at field level is complex and new irrigators often lack information specific to their farms. ILSSI research on farm water management is contributing to materials for training and guidance, as well as identification of practical tools to aid farmers. Our evidence shows that irrigation learning tools, enable farmers to achieve higher water productivity, and often higher quality of produce, benefitting farmers, market actors, and the environment. 

Contributing to tools and guidance for water governance

Shallow groundwater represents a valuable resource to smallholders, but must be well managed at the plot as well as community and watershed levels. ILSSI partners are developing and piloting participant games that can improve local understanding of groundwater-related interdependencies for strengthened management of shared water resources. ILSSI has also developed and analyzed data with public agencies as inputs to guidance and monitoring systems for water quality and sustainable land management interventions.  

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