1.

Irrigation development in the world s

To irrigate is to water crops by bringing in water from pipes, canals, sprinklers, or other man-made
means, rather than relying on rainfall alone. Places that have sparse or seasonal rainfall could not
sustain agriculture without irrigation. In areas that have irregular precipitation, irrigation improves
crop growth and quality. By allowing farmers to grow crops on a consistent schedule irrigation
creates more reliable food supplies.

Ancient civilizations in many parts of the world practiced irrigation. In fact, civilization would
probably not be possible without some form of irrigation. The earliest form of irrigation probably
involved people carrying buckets of water from wells or rivers to pour on their crops. As better
techniques developed, societies in Egypt and China built irrigation canals, dams, dikes, and
water storage facilities. Ancient Rome built structures called aqueducts to carry water
from snowmelt in the Alps to cities and towns in the valleys below. This water was used for
drinking, washing, and irrigation.

Modern irrigation systems use reservoirs, tanks, and wells to supply water for crops. Reservoirs
include aquifers, basins that collect snowmelt, lakes, and basins created by dams. Canals
or pipelines carry the water from reservoirs to fields. Canals and pipelines, just like the ancient
Roman aqueducts, often rely on the force of gravity. Pumps may also move water from reservoirs
to fields.

Crops are irrigated by several methods: flooding an entire field, channeling water between rows
of plants, spraying water through large sprinklers, or letting water drop onto plants through holes
in pipes.

Letting water drop onto plants through holes in pipes, known as drip irrigation, is considered one
of the most efficient methods of irrigation. Drip irrigation focuses the water onto the plant itself.
Other methods can waste water by letting it absorb in to the ground where there are no plants.
Water can also evaporate into the air when sprayed through sprinklers.

During the twentieth century, the amount of irrigated land in the world doubled. An estimated 18
percent of the world’s cropland is now irrigated. This expansion has occurred mainly in Asia,
Africa, and South America. Even desert ecosystems like those in Jordan use irrigation. Jordan uses
a variety of irrigation techniques with groundwater from wells and aquifers.
To help meet the worlds demand for food, more farmland and more irrigation may be needed.
Many experts fear that the expanding use of irrigation in some areas will deplete aquifers, reducing
the amount of freshwater available for drinking and hygiene.

The Aral Sea, in Central Asia, has been almost completely emptied by irrigation. In 1918, the
Soviet government decided that the two rivers that fed the Aral Sea, the Amu Darya and the

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Syr Darya, would be diverted to irrigate crops of cotton, melons, and citrus in the deserts of
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Canals were poorly built, and much of the water went to waste. Before
large-scale agriculture was introduced in the 1940s, the Aral Sea had an area of 68,000 square
kilometers (26,255 square miles). Today, the Aral Sea is three separate lakes, with a combined
area of fewer than 17,000 square kilometers (3,861 square miles).

The Aral Sea ecosystem has been nearly eliminated. The areas once-thriving fishery has
been destroyed. Huge fishing vessels now sit abandoned in the middle of the salty desert.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are working with environmental organizations to preserve what is left
of the Aral Sea while still allowing farmers to irrigate their crops. Kazakhstan, for example, built
a dam to retain water in the North Aral Sea, one of three lakes now in the area. Fish are slowly
returning. Improved irrigation canals from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya also reduce the amount
of water lost to agriculture.

Archaeological investigation has found evidence of irrigation in areas lacking sufficient

natural rainfall to support crops for rain fed agriculture. The earliest known use of the technology
dates to the 6th millennium BCE in Khuzestan in the south-west of present-day Iran.
Irrigation was used as a means of manipulation of water in the alluvial plains of the Indus valley
civilization, the application of it is estimated to have begun around 4500 BC and drastically
increased the size and prosperity of their agricultural settlements. The Indus Valley Civilization
developed sophisticated irrigation and water-storage systems, including
artificial reservoirs at Girnar dated to 3000 BCE, and an early canal irrigation system from c. 2600
BCE. Large-scale agriculture was practiced, with an extensive network of canals used for the
purpose of irrigation.
Farmers in the Mesopotamian plain used irrigation from at least the third millennium BCE. They
developed perennial irrigation, regularly watering crops throughout the growing season by
coaxing water through a matrix of small channels formed in the field. Ancient
Egyptians practiced basin irrigation using the flooding of the Nile to inundate land plots which
had been surrounded by dykes. The flood water remained until the fertile sediment had settled
before the engineers returned the surplus to the watercourse. There is evidence of the ancient
Egyptian pharaohAmenemhet III in the twelfth dynasty (about 1800 BCE) using the natural lake
of the Faiyum Oasis as a reservoir to store surpluses of water for use during dry seasons. The lake
swelled annually from the flooding of the Nile.
Evidence of terrace irrigation occurs in pre-Columbian America, early Syria, India, and China. In
the Zana Valley of the Mountains in Peru, archaeologists have found remains of three
irrigation canals radiocarbon-dated from the 4th millennium BCE, the 3rd millennium BCE and
the 9th century CE. These canals provide the earliest record of irrigation in the New World. Traces

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of a canal possibly dating from the 5th millennium BCE were found under the 4th-millennium
canal.

Ancient Persia (modern day Iran) used irrigation as far back as the 6th millennium BCE to grow
barley in areas with insufficient natural rainfall. The Qanats, developed in ancient Persia about 800
BCE, are among the oldest known irrigation methods still in use today. They are now found in
Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The system comprises a network of vertical wells and
gently sloping tunnels driven into the sides of cliffs and of steep hills to tap groundwater.
The noria, a water wheel with clay pots around the rim powered by the flow of the stream (or by
animals where the water source was still), first came into use at about this time
among Romansettlers in North Africa. By 150 BCE the pots were fitted with valves to allow
smoother filling as they were forced into the water.

The irrigation works of ancient Sri Lanka, the earliest dating from about 300 BCE in the reign of
King Pandukabhaya, and under continuous development for the next thousand years, were one of
the most complex irrigation systems of the ancient world. In addition to underground canals,
the Sinhalese were the first to build completely artificial reservoirs to store water. These reservoirs
and canal systems were used primarily to irrigate paddy fields, which require a lot of water to
cultivate. Most of these irrigation systems still exist undamaged up to now,
in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, because of the advanced and precise engineering. The system
was extensively restored and further extended during the reign of King Parakrama Bahu (1153–
1186 CE).

History, it is said is the greatest teacher of the mankind. Study of the history of irrigation,
development of irrigation technology, sustainability of the old irrigation systems provides an insight
into the factors that have sustained the outcomes over the generations.

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 2. Irrigation development in Africa
Eighty-five percent of Africa's poor live in rural areas and mostly depend on agriculture for their
livelihoods. As a result, agricultural development is key to ending poverty on the continent. Many
development organizations have recently proposed to significantly increase investments
in irrigation in the region.

Although irrigation in Africa has the potential to boost agricultural productivities by at least 50
percent, food production on the continent is almost entirely rainfed. The area equipped for
irrigation, currently slightly more than 13 million hectares, makes up just 6 percent of the total
cultivated area. Eighty-five percent of Africa's poor live in rural areas and mostly depend on
agriculture for their livelihoods. As a result, agricultural development is key to ending poverty on
the continent. Many development organizations have recently proposed to significantly increase
investments in irrigation in the region. However, the potential for irrigation investments in Africa
is highly dependent upon geographic, hydrologic, agronomic, and economic factors that need to
be taken into account when assessing the long-term viability and sustainability of planned projects.
This paper analyzes large, dam-based and small-scale irrigation investment needs in Africa based
on agronomic, hydrologic, and economic factors. This type of analysis can guide country- and
local-level assessment of irrigation potential, which will be important to agricultural and economic
development in Africa.

The Ancient Nubians developed a form of irrigation by using a waterwheel-like device called
a sakia. Irrigation began in Nubia sometime between the third and second millennia BCE. It largely
depended upon the flood waters that would flow through the Nile River and other rivers in what is
now the Sudan.
Ancient Egyptians practiced basin irrigation using the flooding of the Nile to inundate land plots
which had been surrounded by dykes. The flood water remained until the fertile sediment had
settled before the engineers returned the surplus to the watercourse. There is evidence of the
ancient Egyptian pharaohAmenemhet III in the twelfth dynasty (about 1800 BCE) using the
natural lake of the Faiyum Oasis as a reservoir to store surpluses of water for use during dry
seasons. The lake swelled annually from the flooding of the Nile.
In sub-Saharan Africa irrigation reached the Niger River region cultures and civilizations by the
first or second millennium BCE and was based on wet-season flooding and water harvesting.

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Irrigation development plays an insignificant role in sub-Saharan Africa, except the large
scale projects in Sudan and Madagascar where there is a history of irrigation by small farmers.
Abundance of rain fed fertile lands provides the reason why irrigation development has played an
insignificant role.

In general, the amount of irrigation systems in Africa is quite modest comparing to other countries
of the world, with the exception of Egypt and Sudan. In Asia 32.4 percent of the total cropland is
under irrigation and in Africa it is only 6.1 percent (Schoengold et al., 2005), but in Sub-Saharan
Africa the percentage is even lower, 3.5 percent of the total cropland is irrigated (McLean et al.,
2006). Further on, the irrigation costs are doubly so high compared to other continents and the
topography of the landscape is irregular which complicates irrigation constructions (Paarlberg,
1999). To meet the population growth the agriculture in the developing countries needs to produce
more crops per litre of water (FAO, 1997). According to Richard MacLean and Joachim Voss,
cereal production accounts for more than the half of the irrigated land in Africa (McLean et al.,
2006) and globally, 31 percent of the total agriculture area is irrigated (Rijsberman, 2001).

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 3. Irrigation Development in Oromia Region
Oromia has 63 river systems and 688 tributary streams which annually generate 58 billion cubic
meters of surface water, the equivalent of half the nation’s surface water resources. Despite the
large water resources potential, Oromia’s agricultural sector is almost entirely dependent on
rainfed farming. Irrigated agriculture constitutes just under 5 percent of the potential and about
2.14 percent of the total cultivated land. The implication of these figures is that irrigated agriculture
has to go a long way before it can make a significant contribution towards regional food security.

In Oromia Region, it is said that out of the estimated 1.7 million ha of potential irrigable land, only
85,400 ha has been developed so far, which about 5 % of the potential is. The modern irrigation
practice in many places has been introduced as late as mid 1980’s when there was a country-wide
drought affecting huge number of population.

In 1998, about 92,617 ha of land were under traditional and modern irrigation, while 2,426 ha
were under construction. Feasibility studies on about 53,762 ha have been carried out, while about
299,820 ha have been identified for possible development. Traditional irrigation schemes which
are estimated to cover 48,816 ha constitute the major portion, followed by large-scale state farms
consisting of 26,506 ha. All in all, the total developed and planned area, for the development of
irrigated agriculture is estimated at 583,998 ha. The irrigated area under the traditional, small-
scale, and large-scale irrigation scheme is summarized below.

Summary of Irrigation Area in Oromia Region as of 1997

Type of Irrigation Area (ha)

Small-scale Irrigation 9,160
Modern Irrigation
Traditional Irrigation 48,816
Large-scale Irrigation 27,426
Total 85,402

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Oromia Irrigation Development Authority (OIDA)
Was established in July 1999 through reform of Oromia Water, Mines and Energy Resources
Development Bureau. The establishment of OIDA aims at streamlining overall irrigation
development services under the sole organizational framework. The main role of OIDA is to
develop small and medium scale irrigation schemes for mitigation of food insecurity of the Region.
According to “Oromia Regional State Irrigation Development Authority Establishment
Proclamation, No. 30/1999,” the major objectives of OIDA are to:

i. Undertake study, design and construction of irrigation schemes in suitable areas of the
Region,
ii. Contribute towards hastening the socio-economic development of rural community, and
iii. Enable rural community to benefit from irrigation projects through participation in study,
construction and administration.

Five Years Development Plan

Performance of the irrigation development in the previous 5 years is summarized below.

Description of Activities Unit Performance

1 Study and Design No. 94
2 Construction No. 72
3 Land Development Ha 6,050
4 Beneficiaries HHF 17,839

A five-year development program has been launched based mainly on potential sites identified on
topographic maps. Feasibility studies and / or detailed designs have been completed for about
53,762 ha and an additional 299,820 ha have been identified for development. Priority has been
given to areas with traditional irrigation schemes where basic skills in irrigation techniques are
developed. As a matter of policy, schemes selected for development are based on gravity-fed
systems. Within the framework of this policy, the highest number of schemes under construction,
or schemes for which designs have been completed, are in Hararge, Wallagga, Shewa and Arsi. In
connection with provision of infrastructures, the Five Years Irrigation Development Plan in
Oromia Region (2000-2004) to be undertaken by OIDA set an achievement targets as shown
below.

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5-years Plan for Irrigation Development

Description of Activities Target

Nos. Area in ha Others

1 Study and Design

Reconnaissance 348 27,460 -
Feasibility Study 224 17,440 -
Detailed Design 182 14,240 -

2 Construction 100 7,865

3 Expected Beneficiaries - - 31,460 HHF

4 Watershed Management
Study 98 - -
Implementation 69 - -

5 Water Management
Review of activities 110 - -

6 Project Identification Survey - 48,000 -

Source: Oromia Region 5-years Development Plan

The plan envisages that the irrigated areas will be increased by some 90% in the next 5 years.