FU Berlin
Improved Agricultural Water Management In the Nile Basin
Agricultural Productivity in Ethiopian Nile and Interventions
T. Erkossa and S. B. Awulachew
International Water Management Institute
Introduction Major reasons for low productivity
Ethiopian part of Nile is dominated by • Poor nutrient & water storage capacity of soils due to land degradation
mixed crop‐livestock rainfed agriculture. • Water logging of Vertisols
Agricultural productivity in the area is low • Shortage and uneven distribution of rainfall,
due to: high temporal and spatial variation • Lack of suitable technologies
in climate, sever land degradation (Figure L o c a tio n V a rie ty Im p ro v e d T ra d itio n a l %
p ra c tic e p ra c tic e in c re m e n t
1); lack of appropriate technologies; poor
J im m a lo c a l 3 7 .3 2 8 .4 32
infrastructure & limited extension services, UCB 4 6 .1 2 5 .9 78
etc. Interventions for sustained & increased B e le te c h 3 9 .8 2 6 .3 51
B H _140 4 5 .9 2 6 .4 74
productivity and reverse the current state B H -6 6 0 5 7 .6 2 5 .8 124
of land degradation are needed. This k u le n i 4 6 .2 2 6 .5 75
Adet B H -5 4 0 4 8 .9 6 2 9 .3 67
poster shows the result of study conducted k u le n i 8 1 .8 5 0 .6 61
to characterize the prevailing farming Paw e B H -5 3 0 8 1 .7 4 1 .7 96
B H -1 4 0 7 6 .7 4 1 .7 84
systems, identify suitable technologies and B ako B H -1 4 0 3 4 .2 29 18
assess their possible impacts. B e le te c h 3 8 .2 29 32
Table 2: Effect of improve management practices on productivity of maize
Fig. 1: Land degradation major challenge
Methodology Impact of Technologies
•Improved agronomic practices increased productivity of maize by 124% at
Farming systems in the basin is Jimma and by 96% at Pawe (Table 2)
characterized based on: agro‐ecology, •Use of compost increased barley and wheat yield from 1 ton ha‐1 to 2.5 tons
soil, major crops grown, degree of ha‐1 (Figure 4)
crop‐livestock interaction •Mineral fertilizers increased yield of maize from about 1.7 tons ha‐1 to 2.8
Current productivity of farming tons ha‐1 (Figure 4)
systems examined & productivity •Use of tie‐ridges increased grain yield of maize, sorghum, wheat and mung
limiting factors identified beans by 50 to over 100% as compared to planting on flat beds (Figure 5)
Effects of technologies on •Other studies showed draining the water logged Vertisols can increase the
productivity demonstrated productivity of crops like wheat by over 100%
Results
• 2 major farming systems; mixed crop‐
Figure 2:The major farming system in BNB
livestock & pastoral/ agropastoral
identified (Fig. 2 & 3)
• Major farming systems further
subdivided to make ten subsystems
• Cereal based system composed of
single cropping, double cropping and
shifting cultivation sub‐systems
• Average crop productivity under
current management is less than 1 ton
Figure 4: Effect of organic and inorganic Figure 5: Effect of tie-ridges on productivity of
ha‐1 (Table 1) some crops planted in furrows of tied ridges
fertilizers on yield of major cereals
at Kobbo (a dry area in Nile basin) (Source:
Source: Edwards, et al., 2006
Fig. 3 : Distribution of the farming systems George et al., 2001)
Table 1 Current productivity of the farming systems (100kg ha-1) (CSA 2007) Conclusion
Farming system Tef Barley Wheat Maize Sorghum Finger Faba Field Average
• Farming systems can be used as basis for technology scaling up
Millet bean pea
Tef based single cropping 8.24 9.21 10.4 16.8 9.18 4.98 10.33 6.83 9.50
• Use of suitable crop varieties and species, soil and water
Barley based single cropping 8.97 14.81 12.23 18.05 12.88 10.97 12.06 8.78 12.34 management practices significantly increase crop & livestock
Sorghum based single cropping 8.66 10.28 11.62 14.01 11.96 9.59 11.87 9.09 10.89 productivity
Sorghum based shifting 7.26 4.89 6.46 20.68 10.93 6.53 6.00 2.66 8.18
• Integrated application of technologies can maximize the
cultivation benefits of the interventions
Maize based schifting cultivation 5.77 5.18 6.53 20.38 13.72 6.86 5.17 3.69 8.41 • The increased crop and livestock productivity improves the
Maize based single cropping 7.28 6.25 7.13 22.04 12.92 9.89 6.81 4.18 9.56 livelihood of the farming communities and ease the pressure
Coffee-maize complex 8.21 7.36 8.05 22.05 14.72 9.08 7.77 5.52 10.35
on marginal lands, thus alleviating the current extent of land
Barley based double cropping 7.31 9.47 9.90 8.23 8.86 1.60 10.30 6.91 7.82
Enset-root crops complex 5.70 5.11 6.52 17.41 10.12 3.58 4.93 4.36 7.22
degradation
Average 7.49 8.06 8.76 19.15 11.52 7.01 8.36 5.78 9.36
For more information contact: (e-mail)
Adress:
t.erskossa@cgiar.org
http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/africa/east_africa/