Spatial evaluation of surface water irrigation potential areas to improve rural crop productivity in the Gomma district, southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

AbstractThe cycle of food insecurity caused by poor water management practices poses major concerns for the sustainability of living balance in Southwestern Ethiopia’s smallholder agricultural areas. The prior study looked at crop land suitability assessments. However, there are still knowledge gaps on irrigation infrastructure sites. As a result, this research was launched to evaluate the surface water irrigation (SWI) potential of river watersheds in the Gomma area, southwestern Ethiopia. To identify possible SWI, biophysical parameters such as topography, stream order, soil texture, land use-land cover, drainage density, and climate elements were analyzed. Potential SWI sites were identified using multiple-criteria decision-making analysis from the sources of information reviewed, which were applied for selecting suitable sites. A comparison matrix, weighted analysis, Boolean-operations, and survey approaches. The analysis findings reveal that about 16% of the Gomma is highly suitable (S1) for drip or sprinkler surface water irrigation (SWI) schemes, while 7% and 77% of the total fall under the categories of moderate and unsuitable for SWI, respectively. At the catchment level, the most irrigable catchments in Didessa, Naso, Awetu, Tamsa, and Urgessa were found to be approximately 1838, 1626, 1484, 1107, and 910 ha of total area, respectively. In contrast to prior outcomes, the eventual eligibility map of foreseeable SWI zones are squarely distributed over the study region. In conclusion, to optimize the impact on agricultural productivity and water resource management, it is advised to prioritize the implementation of drip or sprinkler surface water irrigation (SWI) schemes in areas identified as highly suitable.

Keywords

• Food security
• smallholder agriculture
• surface water irrigation
• Tejada Manuel, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
• Agriculture & Environmental Sciences
• Environment & Resources