2.

History of irrigation in Ethiopia

 Ethiopia is a land locked country, with a land area of 1.13
million km2, found in Eastern Africa.
 Ethiopia’s population is now estimated as 100 million
and is the second most populous country in Africa next to
Nigeria.
 Most of the population in Ethiopia lives in highland
areas, with 85% being rural and dependent on
agriculture with a low level of productivity.
 The country is endowed with ample water resources with
12 river basins with an annual runoff volume of 122
billion m3 of water and an estimated 2.6-2.65 billion m3
of groundwater potential.

• Due to this Ethiopia is considered to be the water tower
of East Africa.
• The cultivated agricultural land of Ethiopia currently
under cultivation is about 12 million ha.
• In Ethiopia, traditional irrigation was practiced before
centuries.
• Moreover, in the highlands of Ethiopia, irrigation
practices have long been in use since ancient times for
producing subsistence food crops.
• Many study stressed that supplementary irrigation has
been practiced by smallholder farmers of Ethiopia for
centuries to solve their livelihood challenges.
 Spate irrigation has also been used traditionally in
Ethiopia particularly in Southern Tigray and in some
semi-arid areas in Oromia region.
 From the above discussions, the exact date when
irrigation was started in Ethiopia remains un
investigated regardless of routinely saying “irrigation
was started in Ethiopia during ancient times.
 Modern irrigation was started in the early 1950’s by the
bilateral agreement between the government of Ethiopia
and the Dutch company.
 Most of the traditional irrigated lands in Ethiopia are
dominantly supplied by surface water sources, while
ground water uses has just been started on a pilot basis in
the East Amhara region.
 Pressurized sprinkler irrigation system was once
practiced in Fincha State Farm, Eastern Amhara,
Southern Tigray and on some private farms in the Rift
Valley.
 The rift valley is a place where modern irrigation in
Ethiopia starts especially in the Awash River Basin at
which adoption of pump-irrigation commence.
2.1 Ways of irrigation development in Ethiopia
 Irrigated agriculture is being practiced under
smallholders, medium and large scale farming.
 According to Ministry of Water Resources of Ethiopia
(MoWR, 2002), irrigation development in Ethiopia is
classified based on the size of the command area, in
three types:
 1.Small-scale irrigation systems (<200 hectares ha)
2. Medium-scale irrigation systems (200-3,000 ha)
3. Large-scale irrigation systems (>3,000 ha)
 This classification system is the most common in
Ethiopia.
 Accordingly, 46% of proposed irrigation developments
are in the small-scale irrigation category.
Table 2. Existing irrigation schemes by scale of scheme.
 2.3. Irrigation Potential In Ethiopia
 As described above, Ethiopia has vast cultivable land (30
to 70 Mha), but only about a third of that is currently
cultivated (approximately 15 Mha),with current irrigation
schemes covering about 640,000 ha across the country.
 However, the total irrigable land potential in Ethiopia is
5.3 Mha assuming use of existing technologies, including
1.6 Mha through RWH and ground water.
 This means that there are potential opportunities to vastly
increase the amount of irrigated land.
 The irrigation potential of the country can be considered
from the Surface water resource and Ground water
resource.
 Surface Water Resources
River Basins
 The country has 12 river basins with the total mean
annual flow from all the 12 river basins is estimated to be
122 BMC.
Table 2.1. Irrigation Potential in the River Basins of Ethiopia.
 Lakes and Reservoirs

 Ethiopia has 11 fresh and 9 saline lakes, 4 crater lakes

and over 12 major swamps or wetlands.
 Groundwater Resources System
• As compared to surface water resources, Ethiopia has
lower ground water potential.
• Based on the scanty knowledge available on
groundwater resources, the potential is estimated to be
about 2.6 BMC (Billion Metric Cube) annually
rechargeable resource.
• However groundwater in Ethiopia can be used for
irrigation in multiple ways, such as deep and shallow
wells from underground aquifers.
• Compared with other sources of irrigation, groundwater
as a resource for agricultural development offers a
number of advantages.