Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Ghana

Building shared skills on tools for managing water across river basins in West Africa

by

What will happen to the environment, to farmers’ income, and to families’ nutritional health if small scale irrigation is rolled out across river basins in West Africa and elsewhere on the continent?

Since it is impossible to precisely predict the future, the best way to anticipate positive outcomes and potential negative side effects is to use scientific modeling tools to produce plausible future scenarios.

That’s why building skills on how to use such modeling tools is a key component of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI). Since 2014, ILSSI has hosted trainings on its integrated decision support system (IDSS), inviting agricultural extension workers and professionals working in national research centers, universities, and private sector companies to build modeling skills that enable them to evaluate the impacts of small scale irrigation on water resource risks, agricultural production, environmental sustainability, household income, and nutrition.

By using a common set of powerful tools, these decision-makers can better manage water resources across basins in the region, particularly in attempts to address climate change. Already, basin authorities, irrigation departments, and national water planning agencies are applying the tools at multiple levels to help standardize their analysis and planning.

The latest IDSS training took placed at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, on February 17–22, 2020.
The latest IDSS training took placed at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, on February 17–22, 2020. Photo: Yihun Dile/ILSSI.

Significant demand for shared tools

ILSSI’s latest IDSS training took place at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, on February 17–22, 2020. For the first time, ILSSI provided a regional training, which will help technical experts across West Africa better coordinate their data collection and analysis. Participants taking part in the training originated from nine West African countries, namely Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo.

The integrated decision support system includes the integrated application of tools such as the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), Agricultural Policy Environment eXtender (APEX), and Farm Income and Nutrition Simulator (FARMSIM). These can be used to evaluate the interaction between climate, water, and agriculture, and decision-makers can therefore draw on them to plan for different potential scenarios in the future.

The IDSS training usually extends over five days, during which participants are taught about the integrated application of the IDSS models and receive hands-on training drawing on relevant examples. The events are adjusted to meet participants’ needs, and have in the past been updated to include training on advanced SWAT, GIS, and AutoCAD. Training documentation and open access software is also distributed.

After the event, ILSSI experts continue to support participants, providing advice for professionals and mentoring students and research scientists. The engagement is especially strong with graduate students and research institutions, as reflected in multiple peer-reviewed publications.   

People from nine different countries participated in the recent IDSS training. Photo: Abeyou W. Worqlul/ILSSI.

Building skills across the continent

Since 2014, ILSSI has provided the IDSS training 13 times in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania, educating a total of 874 participants. These events were hosted and organized by local institutes such as universities, federal offices, and CGIAR research centers, and have included diverse participants representing universities, international and local research institutions, private companies, and more.

Although the IDSS trainings were provided in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania, the participants over the course of the past seven years have originated from more than ten African countries as well as from Europe and the United States. This continent-wide interest in common analytical tools that can enhance understanding of interactions between agriculture and the environment may prove particularly useful as African countries move ahead with regional-level coordination of their response to climate change.

ILSSI will continue to offer IDSS trainings in the sub-Saharan countries where needs are expressed. Coming up are a training in Côte d’Ivoire focused on cocoa production under climate change and a training in Ethiopia related to irrigated fodder production for livestock.

Four papers on water and climate change impacts in Ethiopia and Ghana

by

Four recent publications from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) investigate how climate change is likely to affect water availability in the future. All four papers present results that suggest needs to put in place measures to adapt to and mitigate risks of plausible climate change.

Gebrekidan Worku, Ermias Teferi, Amare Bantider, Yihun T. Dile. 2019. Observed changes in extremes of daily rainfall and temperature in Jemma subbasin, Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia

ILSSI scientists have been supervising a graduate student from Addis Ababa University who analyzed observed extreme rainfall and temperature in the Jemma subbasin of the Upper Blue Nile basin in Ethiopia. The analysis used data for the period 1981 to 2014. Results showed an increasing trend of annual and summer rainfall and a decreasing trend of spring rainfall in most parts of the subbasin. An increase in rainfall and extreme temperature events was also observed. The study recommends appropriate water management interventions to adapt to and mitigate risks associated with the observed changes in rainfall and temperature.

Download paper

Gebrekidan Worku, Ermias Teferi, Amare Bantider, Yihun T. Dile. 2020. Statistical bias correction of regional climate model simulations for climate change projection in the Jemma subbasin, Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia

One of the challenges in climate change studies is selecting the right type of bias correction methods. Biases are systematic errors, either decreases or increases, in actual observations or estimates in climate data. This study, applying several statistical matrices, found that the distribution mapping technique was better for correcting biases than other methods. Distribution mapping is a distribution-based approach that corrects the mean, standard deviation, and extremes and distribution of rainfall and temperature events of climate model outputs. The distribution mapping was applied to bias correct the future (2021–2100) simulation of Regional Climate Models, which showed a decline of rainfall and an increase of temperature as well as of extreme rainfall and temperature events in each of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC)’s three scenarios for plausible future greenhouse gas emissions trajectories.

Download paper

Abeyou Wale Worqlul, Yihun Taddele Dile, Essayas Kaba Ayana, Jaehak Jeong, Anwar Assefa Adem, Thomas Gerik. 2018. Impact of climate change on streamflow hydrology in headwater catchments of the Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia.

In this study, ILSSI researchers assessed the impact of climate change on water availability and variability in two subbasins in the Upper Blue Nile basin of Ethiopia. An emission scenario representing the baseline period (1961–1990) was used to predict future climate and as input to a hydrologic model to estimate the impact of future climate on the flow of water in the two rivers in three future time horizons: 2020–2045, 2045–2070, and 2070–2100. Daily maximum/minimum temperatures are expected to increase throughout the future time horizons. The minimum and maximum temperature will increase by 3.6 °C and 2.4 °C, respectively, toward the end of the 21st century. Consequently, potential evapotranspiration is also expected to increase by 7.8%. The increase in evapotranspiration suggests increased crop water requirement in future crop production, which must be taken into account when planning future irrigation infrastructure. A notable seasonality was found in the rainfall pattern, such that dry season rainfall amounts are likely to increase and wet season rainfall to decrease. The hydrological model indicated that the local hydrology of the study watersheds will be significantly influenced by climate change. Overall, at the end of the century, water flow will increase in both rivers by up to 64% in dry seasons and decrease by 19% in wet seasons.

Download paper

Abeyou W. Worqlul, Yihun T. Dile, Jaehak Jeong, Zenebe Adimassu, Nicole Lefore, Thomas Gerik, Raghavan Srinivasan, Neville Clarke. 2019. Effect of climate change on land suitability for surface irrigation and irrigation potential of the shallow groundwater in Ghana. 

ILSSI researchers applied a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) technique to evaluate the suitability of land for irrigation in Ghana for a baseline period (1990–2010) and future time horizons, namely the 2050s (2041 to 2060) and the 2070s (2061 to 2080). Model results suggest that due to climate change, on average, rainfall will increase by 15 mm in the 2050s and 20 mm in 2070s, compared to the baseline period. Results on average temperature show a consistent increase across most of Ghana, which will increase potential evapotranspiration by 6.0% and 7.6% in the 2050s and 2070s, respectively. As a result of these changes to rainfall and temperatures, 9.5% of the current land area that is suitable for irrigation will become unfavorable for irrigation in 2050s, and may continue to become unfavorable in the 2070s, reducing land suitable for irrigation by 17%.

Download paper

ILSSI provides training in Ghana on the Integrated Decision Support System

by

ILSSI held a training in Ghana from 5-10 August on the Integrated Decision Support System, a set of integrated models to enable improved environmental and economic analysis, monitoring and planning, particularly as related to agriculture water management and irrigation development. The training was hosted by the CSIR’s Water Research Institute in Accra, while ILSSI provided the trainers from Texas A & M University. Over 50 participants from universities, public institutions and research institutions in Ghana participated, including some from USAID supported projects.

ILSSI presents on research in Ghana

by

“If you don’t work in the irrigated vegetable garden, you will sell the food crops you harvested during the rainy season – and you will be in hunger.” This is according to a farmer in Mongnoori, northern Ghana, shared during a seminar convened by ILSSI with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Public, private and development sector participants discussed future research for small scale, farmer-led irrigation, as well the potential to empower women. ILSSI director Dr. Lefore presented on new research areas, and IFPRI’s Elizabeth Bryan shared research results from a multi-project effort on small scale irrigation and women’s empowerment in Ghana. Check out the presentations to learn more about past and new research.

New tech tested

by

Drip irrigation tech, conservation agriculture show promise for farmers of Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana

New experiments with drip irrigation and conservation agriculture aim to help smallholder women farmers transform their home gardens into viable sources of income and family nutrition.  

Trials now being conducted in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Ghana by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation are looking into how the technologies can benefit vegetable production in the “commercial home gardens.” The research specifically targets women farmers growing vegetables in plots of no more than 200 square meters.   

Innovation Lab researchers hope drip irrigation systems will reduce watering labor while conservation agriculture techniques – which aim to sustainably preserve fertile soil attributes –reduce the labor needs of tilling, plant bed preparation and weeding.

In the long term, similar technologies could be adopted across larger regions to help boost produce yields for market sale and family meals, building livelihoods, food security and nutrition into the future.   

Research in the three African countries includes some experiments that combine drip irrigation with conservation agriculture and others that employ drip irrigation alongside traditional tilled agriculture systems.

Groups of 15, 20 and 15 women have volunteered to participate in the study in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Ghana respectively. Water storage tanks, drip irrigation implements and pipes for tapping water are provided to each volunteer farmer by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab along with inputs like seed and extension service.

Used in tandem, drip irrigation and conservation agriculture technologies are known to boost water use efficiency while decreasing soil evaporation.

Edralin (2015) in a study conducted in Siem Reap, Cambodia reported higher vegetable yields by the fourth harvest from conservation agriculture compared with traditional tilled systems. Weeding was reduced by 30 percent. Soil respiration and moisture contents were higher in conservation agriculture approaches than in traditional ones. Additionally, soil temperature was lower and organic carbon and nitrogen levels increased – all indicators of improved soil quality. Irrigation labor was also reduced by 65 percent with drip and pump irrigation set-ups compared with manual sprinklers.

Edralin et al. (2014) reported that women operating commercial home gardens earned an average of $300 per year, per 100 square meters of garden space.

Participants of Ethiopia have been provided with drip irrigation hardware and 500 liter water storage tanks; some participants in Tanzania have received tanks and have begun growing vegetables using both conservation agriculture and traditional tilled systems; volunteers have been chosen to begin the study in Ghana. 

Labor savings from drip irrigation and conservation agriculture systems, as well as produce yielded by the experiments, will be measured in the coming months.

References:

  • Edralin, D.I. 2015. Efficacy of Conservation Agriculture in Enhancing Yield of Vegetables and Soil Quality in Cambodia.  Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
  • Edralin, D.I., S. Ry, and M. Reyes. 2014. Vegetable Production in Drip Irrigation and Conservation Agriculture for the Disadvantaged Women in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Poster presented the 2014 annual horticulture innovation lab meeting, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, March 2014.
Texas A&M University System Member