FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA

MINISTRY OF WATER, IRRIGATION AND ENERGY (MOWIE)

A proposal on

Assessment and Improvement of the Irrigation Performances of

Irrigation Schemes in Ethiopia

IAG
June 4, 2019
Addis Ababa

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Contents
1. Introduction and justification ........................................................................................................ 1
2. Goal and Objectives........................................................................................................................... 4
3. Methodological approaches ............................................................................................................ 4
4. Expected outputs............................................................................................................................... 7
5. Project management and implementation .................................................................................. 9
6. Project benefits and beneficiaries ...............................................................................................10
7. Project activities and implementation plan .............................................................................. 11
8. Project budget.................................................................................................................................. 11
9. Monitoring and evaluation.............................................................................................................. 1
References .................................................................................................................................................. 2

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1. Introduction and justification

In every two to three years Ethiopia faces one drought year that leads to huge food crises,
losses of livestock and human lives as well as environmental disaster (Abduselam, 2017).
It is widely understood that there is a strong link between food shortage, famine and
drought in Ethiopia. This is associated with the fact that agriculture, which is dominantly
rainfed, is the single most food supplier to the nation. With such practices, the country’s
capacity to ensure food supply to its nation is limited. The food demand side is also
changing rapidly widening the gap between supply and demand further. Demand for food
is increasing because the country’s population has been growing; for instance it has
increased from 73.14 million in 2007 to 110.44million in 2019 which means an addition of
about 37million people in only 12 years. Unless a different approach to food production is
followed, with the current traditional and rainfall dependent agricultural practices and
increasing degradation of natural resources, this country can not feed its increasing
population. There is greater potential of increasing food supply to meet the demand of
increasing population from irrigated agriculture than from rain-fed agriculture (Pradhan,
2012)

There is greater potential of increasing food supply to meet the demand of increasing
population from irrigated agriculture than from rain-fed agriculture (Pradhan, 2012). This
why, the role of irrigation in enhancing food supply and poverty alleviation has been the
subject that encompasses the history of irrigation development. Inline with this it is
important to draw lessons from green revolution in other parts of the world specifically in
Asia. Green revolution (GR) in 1950s/ 60s was implemented to keep food production pace
with population growth. The goal of the GR was to increase the efficiency of agricultural
processes so that the productivity of the crops was increased and could help developing
countries to face their growing population‘s needs (Ameen and Raza, 2010). The study by
Lipton and Litchfield (2003 showed that the significant poverty reduction in many parts of Asian
countries during GR was attributed to the expansion of irrigation, which not only increased
agricultural production but also made possible the adoption of modern farm technology—
seeds, fertilizers and pesticides— that further reduced poverty (cf. Barker and Molle,
2004). Timely and reliable water supplies, greater cropping intensities, high-yielding

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varieties of seeds and doses of fertilizers and crop protection have pushed up productivity
(Mukherji et al,. 2009).

Irrigation expansion has been one of the most priority strategies of agricultural
development programs of the country since over one decade (PASDEP I and II; GTP I and II;
and other growth plans). It is meant to uplift the country’s agricultural production and
productivity through effective utilization of its water resources. The overall objective of
irrigation in Ethiopia as stipulated in irrigation policy is “to develop the huge irrigated
agriculture potential for the production of food crops and raw materials needed for agro
industries, on efficient and sustainable basis and without degrading the fertility of the
production fields and water resources base”. In line with this, irrigation potential assessment,
project studies, design and implementation have been carried out in many river basins.
Consequently, encouraging results have been achieved in irrigated area expansion.

The largest proportion of developed irrigation schemes are river diversion types. As the
water supply from the source varies over time, such schemes require management
institutions to efficiently allocate water among different uses and timely maintain the
systems. Focus has been given to infrastructure construction based irrigation development.
The success of an irrigation system is determined by its positive impacts on agricultural
production and productivity and hence livelihood improvement of the society which in
turn depends on proper operation and regular maintenance of irrigation systems as well as
integrated soil fertility and crop management. These are widely neglected components of
irrigated agricultural development in Ethiopia.

Irrigation projects, created with huge public investment, are not fully utilized. Studies
indicate that 70% of the developed irrigation potential is being inefficiently utilized
(Awulachew and Ayana, 2011). This means about more than 30% of irrigable land covered
by irrigation infrastructures is not used. Several projects or parts of projects are getting
abandoned most often after only few seasons of operation. The scarce reports on
performance assessment indicate that irrigation projects implemented in Ethiopia are
performing below their capacity. According to the assessment made by Ministry of
Agriculture and Natural Resources (2016) for national small-scale irrigation and drainage

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strategy about 34 % of existing small-scale irrigation schemes are performing far below
their capacity and 16% are not functional at all. The most severe problems facing Ethiopian
irrigation, as reported by several professionals, are increasing deterioration of existing
systems due to lack of maintenance, distortions and collapse of canals and slopes due to
erosion silitation, malfunctioning of gates, head and cross regulators, lack of control and
measuring structures, low irrigation efficiency leading to rapid incidence of water logging
and salinity, low productivity, insufficient technical skills, and institutional constraints
(Ayana and Awulachew, 2009; Awulachew and Ayana, 2011; Eneyew, 2014; Agide, 2015;
Dinka, 2017; Muhammedziyad et al., 2019). Many of the old irrigation schemes have been
operated without significant rehabilitation with very low efficiency (Ayana et al., 2015). As
a result most of the irrigation projects are becoming physically, environmentally and
financially unsustainable.
The growing concern is now, as the government moves on expanding irrigation onto the
new suitable areas, existing irrigation schemes are deteriorating also degrading soil and
water qualities. Continued deterioration of existing irrigation system could further reduce
our ability to produce more food. While developing new irrigation project, it is also
important to note that there is substantial scope to increase food production, enhance
livelihoods and reduce poverty in existing irrigated areas. Rehabilitation and revitalization
approaches are used in many other countries to upgrade existing irrigation projects and
their managements. Rehabilitation focuses more on the improvement of physical
infrastructure (more engineering-centered reconstruction of dilapidated infrastructures)
while revitalization is a more comprehensive approach encompassing the development of
both physical and institutional arrangements (underpinned by a financially sustainable
development strategy alongside repair and redesign of existing infrastructures (Denison
and Manona, 2007: cited in Mwendera and Chilonda, 2013).
Therefore, there is an urgent need to conduct comprehensive performance evaluation of
the existing irrigation projects and develop performance improvement measures including
revitalization.

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2. Goal and Objectives
Goal – the overall goal of this project is to ensure sustainable irrigated agricultural
production and productivity and thereby improve the livelihood of the farming community
as well as the contribution of irrigated agriculture to national economy.

Objectives
The general objective of this project is to undertake a comprehensive performance
assessment and evaluation of existing irrigation projects with the view to develop methods
of revitalizing and improving overall performances
The specific objectives of this project are to:
1. Establish compressive irrigation database for documentation and use of
information related to existing irrigation development
2. To assess the performances of selected irrigation schemes with a view to identify
performance gaps and developing improvement measures
3. Develop irrigation performance monitoring and evaluation guidelines
4. Build irrigation management capacities including institutional development

3. Methodological approaches
Typological classification of irrigation in Ethiopia follows an area base approach.
Accordingly, irrigation area less than 200ha are considered as small-scale whereas area
from 200 – 3000ha and greater 3000ha are medium and large-scale respectively. The total
area under each irrigation category is not exactly known. However, estimates indicate
small-scale irrigation covers about 2.1 million ha, medium and large-scale irrigation covers
479,866ha of land. Many new irrigation projects are at different levels of progress (under
construction, design, feasibility study). As the objectives and management setups of
irrigation projects differ, it may be important to select sample irrigation projects from
different scale categories, their importance (food and social security, national economy
etc), and regional representativeness.
Therefore, this study will be conducted in partnership with relevant regional bureaus,
universities, and research institutions.

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Proposed broad methodological approaches for the respective objectives, considered
herein as working packages, are outlined as follows. The detailed working methodology
will be designed after appropriate research team, selected from involving institutions, is
established and researchers assigned.

Collection of reliable information related to existing irrigation

Working package 1
schemes and mapping – establishment of robust irrigation
database

Irrigation development planning has been threatened by lack of baseline information

related to area irrigated under each scale category, number and location of projects as well
as other relevant information. Effective planning and management require timely, adequate
and reliable information. Activities involved under this work are among others:
 Developing standard data collection template for existing irrigation schemes
 Develop methods of data gathering (on site measurement, collecting from secondary
sources, storage, communication etc)
 Develop a robust computer aided database (geo-referenced)

Assessing the performances of selected irrigation schemes with a

Working package 2
view to identify performance gaps and developing improvement
measures

Irrigation performance assessment has become an integral component of irrigation

management in countries with intensive irrigation development since over three decades.
If properly designed and conducted, the results of such assessment can show performance
gaps and their underlying factors which in turn are useful for developing improvement
measures. Existing irrigation schemes that have relative advantage (socially, economically,
environmentally, initial investment costs etc) will be selected for detail assessment.
Performance measures require data which are not readily available or measured in
Ethiopia. This necessitates collection of primary data through measurement or appropriate

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methods as may be required (situational analysis of the system; temporal and spatial water
supply and demand measurement; scheduling measures such as adequacy, reliability,
flexibility and efficiency in water distribution and application; economic indicators like
input output analysis, production and productivity; environmental measures or
sustainability). Based on which performance component is to be assessed, relevant
indicators will be selected and the necessary data to measure these indicators will be
collected. Two types of irrigation performance indicators are widely known. These are
external indicators that address production, water use, productivity and internal indicators
such as water delivery related like efficiencies, adequacy, reliability, equity and timeliness.
It is important to identify the link between irrigation system operations and the resulting system
performance to be able to develop improvement options.

Develop irrigation performance monitoring and evaluation

Working package 3
guidelines

Performance improvement is a continuous process that involves planning –

implementation – evaluation and draw lesson which can be used for the next cycle planning
and further improvement. As summarized by Boss et al. (1994), performance evaluation
helps the managers to find answer to the questions like: Am I doing things right? and Am I
doing the right things? . The former asks whether the set targets are achieved and the later
asks about whether the broader objectives have been achieved.
While monitoring, performance parameters useful to quantify indicators and hence
evaluate the performances are measured. The guideline will outline the processes and
procedures of monitoring and evaluation of irrigation performances.

Build irrigation management capacity and institutional

Working package 4
development

In many cases a weak institutional structures and capacity is the reason for deterioration
and poor performances of irrigation. Irrigation is a business that requires group action,
respect of rules and regulations, mutual trust and leadership.
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Experiences from other countries show that the need for individual and institutional
capacity building for irrigation development and management has long been important. It
has gained more attention in 80s and 90s with the shifts of emphasis from development of
physical infrastructure to social and human development (Franks et al., 2008).
This WP will identify capacity development needs, design capacity and institutional
development strategies and means of implementing them.

4. Expected outputs
Expected outputs of this project are:
 Existing irrigation schemes in Ethiopia are well documented and computer aided
standard database to manage the information is developed
 Performance levels of selected irrigation schemes with significant importance are
known, performance gaps and determinate factors identified
 Performance improvement measures identified, designed for implementation
 Irrigation management capacity at all relevant levels built
 Other outputs include: irrigation management guidelines, performance evaluation
guidelines, publications, policy briefs etc.

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 Improved food supply and
Livelihood
Reduced poverty

Goal

 Scheme upgraded (physical infrastructure)

Physical system  Effective governance structure in place
 Design  Effective O&M system in place
 Construction  Farmers’ entrepreneurial and irrigation skill
 Operation developed
 Maintenance  Water use efficiency improved
Water use system  Cropping intensity increased
 Acquisition  Productivity improved
 Conveyance
 Sustainability improved
 Distribution
Assessing Performance of Irrigation

 Application
 Drainage Performance Improvement Intervention
(Irrigation system components)

Management system  Revitalization of schemes (both hard and

software)
 Decision making
 Capacity building
 Conflict resolution
 Resources
mobilization
 Communication
 Reliability Improve
 Adequacy Performance
 Flexibility
 Efficiency  Level of performance
 Performance gaps
Socioeconomic system
 Gender
 Equity
 Productivity
Environmental
 Sustainability
 Salinity
 Groundwater level
 Water-logging

Figure 1: Project framework

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 5. Project management and implementation
This project is a broad project that is designed to provide detail national picture about
irrigation development and performance levels and gaps of sample irrigation schemes.
Based on identified performance gaps the project intends to develop improvement
measures that leads to revitalization and evaluation of the effects of improvement
intervention. The project is planned to be implemented by researchers to be assigned from
different institutions (regional bureaus, universities, research institutions). There will be a
steering committee that oversees the overall project implementation. Teams composed of
competent professionals from different organizations will be assigned to each working
package. The team will develop detail proposal including state-of-the art methodology and
plan of action. Irrigation schemes for detail study and improvement will be selected with
justification. The steering committee will evaluate and approve the proposals and
implementation progress reports. Figure 2 shows project management structure.

MoWIE

Steering
committee

Lead Lead Lead Lead Lead

WP 1 WP2 WP 3 WP4 WP5

2 5 3 5 2
Researchers Researchers Researchers Researchers Researchers

MSc Students 3 12 0 0 0 0

Figure 2: Project management structure

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6. Project benefits and beneficiaries
Irrigation development in Ethiopia has been focusing only on physical infrastructure
development part of irrigation. Encouraging progresses have been made in this regards.
Lack of strong management system, operation and maintenance services has resulted in
deterioration and poor performances of many irrigation schemes. Performance assessment
helps to identify gaps and determinants of performances. Consequently, improvement
measures can be developed and implemented. The benefits of this project are:
 Existing irrigation and irrigation management database is established which is
useful for proper planning and management of irrigation systems
 Performance level and gaps of existing irrigation management are identified which
can be used for developing improvement measures
 Knowledge and experiences of irrigation performance evaluation developed
 Economically, socially and environmentally useful irrigation schemes are revitalized
and their performances improved
 Irrigators and irrigation managers’ capacity is developed
 In addition to new development, importance of revitalizing existing irrigation
schemes is promoted
 MSc and PhD researches supported and university-industry linkage strengthened

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 7. Project activities and implementation plan
The project will last for three years (2020 – 2022)

Detailed Case Studies 2020 2021 2022

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

WP 1 Establish compressive irrigation

database for documentation and use
of information related to existing
irrigation development
WP 2 Assess the performances of selected
irrigation schemes with a view to
identify performance gaps and
developing improvement measures

WP 3 Develop irrigation performance

monitoring and evaluation
guidelines
WP 4 Build irrigation management
capacity and institutional
development
Closing

8. Project budget

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The budget estimated is about 25,547,855 birr (Table below). The details are worked out in
the attached separate excel sheet.

Summary Cost
WP 1 3,593,940
WP 2 8,508,885
WP 3 1,637,580
WP 4 9,207,450
Establishment of training
centers 2,000,000
Training manuals 600,000
Total 25,547,855

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WP 1: Establish compressive irrigation database for documentation and use of information related to existing medium and large-scale
irrigation development
Budget items Quantity Duration of Cost per Cost/ Year in ETB Total
involvement month per
Unit in months individual
2020 2021 2022
1 Personnel
Lead Researchers Number 1 30 16,000 192,000 192,000 96,000 480,000
Researchers Number 2 25 13,000 312,000 312,000 26,000 650,000
Support Staff Number 3 24 6,000 72,000 216,000 288,000
Data collectors Number 10 20 5,000 600,000 400,000 1,000,000
MSc Students Number 3 12 3,000 108,000 108,000
Sub-total 43,000 1,284,000 1,120,000 122,000 2,526,000
2 Travel costs/ Perdiem Cost per day Total cost
Lead Researchers days 150 400 60,000 24,000 24,000 12,000 60,000
Researchers days 125 400 100,000 48,000 48,000 4000 100,000
Support Staff days 72 300 64,800 32,400 32,400 64,800
Data collectors days 300 200 600,000 360,000 240,000 600,000
MSc Students days 120 200 72,000 72,000 72,000
Sub-total 536,400 344,400 16,000 896,800
Grand Total 1,820,400 1,464,400 138,000 3,422,800
Others (5% of sum) 91,020 73,220 6,900 171,140
Grand total 1,911,420 1,537,620 144,900 3,593,940

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WP 2: Assess the performances of selected irrigation schemes with a view to identify performance gaps and developing improvement
measures
Budget items Quantity Duration of Cost per Cost/ Year in ETB Total
involvement month per
Unit in months individual
2020 2021 2022
1 Personnel
Lead Researchers Number 1 36 16,000 192,000 192,000 192,000 576,000
Researchers Number 5 36 13,000 780,000 780,000 780,000 2,340,000
Support Staff Number 3 33 6,000 216,000 216,000 162,000 594,000
Data collectors Number 10 30 5,000 600,000 640,000 300,000 1,540,000
MSc Students Number 12 18 3,000 216,000 216,000 216,000 648,000
Sub-total 43,000 2,004,000 2,044,000 1,650,000 5,698,000
2 Travel costs/ Perdiem Cost per day Total cost
Lead Researchers days 216 400 86,400 28,800 28,800 21,600 79,200
Researchers days 360 400 720,000 240,000 240,000 180,000 660,000
Support Staff days 165 300 148,500 54,000 54,000 40,500 148,500
Data collectors days 600 200 1,200,000 480,000 480,000 360,000 1,320,000
MSc Students days 180 200 108,000 72,000 72,000 54,000 198,000
Sub-total 874,800 874,800 656,100 2,405,700
Grand Total 2,878,800 2,918,800 2,306,100 8,103,700
Others (5% of sum) 143,940 145,940 115,305 405,185
Grand total 3,022,740 3,064,740 2,421,405 8,508,885

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WP 3: Develop irrigation performance monitoring and evaluation guidelines
Budget items Quantity Duration of Cost per Cost/ Year in ETB Total
involvement in month per
Unit months individual
2020 2021 2022
1 Personnel
Lead Researchers Number 1 18 16,000 192,000 96,000 288,000
Researchers Number 5 18 13,000 780,000 65,000 845,000
Support Staff Number 1 12 6,000 72,000 72,000
Data collectors Number 5 20 5,000 200,000 200,000
MSc Students Number
Sub-total 40,000 0 1,244,000 161,000 1,405,000
2 Travel costs/ Cost per day Total cost
Perdiem
Lead Researchers days 36 400 14,400 9,600 4,800 4,800 19,200
Researchers days 36 400 72,000 48,000 24,000 4000 76,000
Support Staff days 12 300 3,600 3,600 1,800 5,400
Data collectors days 60 200 60,000 36,000 18,000 54,000
MSc Students days
Sub-total 150,000 97,200 48,600 8,800 154,600
Grand Total 97,200 1,292,600 169,800 1,559,600
Others (5% of sum) 4,860 64,630 8,490 77,980
Grand total 102,060 1,357,230 178,290 1,637,580

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WP 4: Build irrigation management capacity and institutional development
Budget items Quantity Number of Cost per Cost/ Year in ETB Total
training training
Unit event event
2020 2021 2022
1 Personnel
Principal Trainers Number 1 10 15,000 180,000 180,000 90,000 450,000
Trainers Number 2 10 13,000 312,000 312,000 156,000 780,000
Support Staff Number 2 10 6,000 72,000 720,000 72,000 864,000
Trainee Number 2000 10 0
Venue/ Logestics Number 20 10 150,000 1,500,000 1,500,000 3,000,000
Sub-total 184,000 2,064,000 2,712,000 318,000 5,094,000
2 Travel costs/ Perdiem Cost per day Total cost
Principal Trainers days 10 400 40,000 8,000 8,000 4,000 20,000
Trainers days 10 300 60,000 12,000 12,000 6,000 30,000
Support Staff days 10 250 50,000 10,000 10,000 5,000 25,000
Trainees days 10 180 3,600,000 1,800,000 1,800,000 3,600,000
Sub-total 1,830,000 1,830,000 15,000 3,675,000
Grand Total 3,894,000 4,542,000 333,000 8,769,000
Others (5% of sum) 194,700 227,100 16,650 438,450
Grand total 4,088,700 4,769,100 349,650 9,207,450

Lamp sum costs

Training manual preparation 600,000
Establishment of training centers (10) 2,000,000

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9. Monitoring and evaluation
This project is a comprehensive national project that is to be undertaken on different
irrigation schemes and regions over three consecutive years. It will involve several
partners and stakeholders. Hence, regular monitoring and evaluation of its progress and
deliverable are essential. Project coordinator will be assigned to coordinate the overall
project implementation. For each working package there will be lead researcher who also
coordinates the activities of the WP. The steering committee will meet regularly to discuss
and approve the project plans and deliverables. WP leaders present their respective plans
and progress reports to the steering committee. At the end of every year, workshops will be
organized to communicate the results to wider stakeholders’ forum.

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