Evaluation of local water management practices in small-scale irrigation systems: Case study of Gatto and Arguba, Ethiopia

Abstract

Many irrigation schemes are characterized by a low level of overall performance. The technical and economic performance of irrigation schemes has generally been far below potential. The objective of this study was to assess and evaluate local water management practices for selected small scale irrigation schemes to improve irrigation water management and irrigation performance. Comparative performance indicators were used to evaluate the performance of the schemes. The result of sustainability for Gatto was 0.7867 and that of arguba was 0.881. The output per unit irrigated cropped area was 18633 birr/ha for Gatto and 16828 birr/ha for Arguba irrigation schemes respectively. The output per unit irrigation water supply was 2.3 birr/m3 and 2.32 birr/m3 for Gatto and Arguba irrigation schemes. Finally for both irrigation schemes a great effort was needed to maximize the return from each drop of water and improve the irrigation efficiency. Applying reasonable irrigation water fee, furrow layouts and irrigation scheduling would improve the performance of the schemes.