Presented by Tilahun Amede, Seleshi B. Awlachew, Bancy Matti, Seydou Traore and Muluneh Yitayew at the First Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-I) Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 17-19 October 2011.
Agricultural Water Management Strategies for Climate Adaptation
1. ClimDev-Africa
Agricultural Water Management
in the Context of Climate Change
Tilahun Amede, Seleshi B. Awlachew, Bancy Matti,
Seydou Traore, Muluneh Yitayew
First Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-I) Conference
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 17-19 October 2011
1
2. CC IMPACTS: RAINFED AGRICULTURE
Climate variability will erode the resources base, and affect
ecosystem services : Recurrent droughts & severe floods;
Droughts will decrease yields / productivity
Floods may damage crops and infrastructure (irrigation, road)
Complicate farm operations abd services;
Fluctuations in farmers’ income: poor farmers may lack
means to buffer extreme years
Impact on national economy, with 90% probability
2
3. IMPACTS: IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE
Glacier melt of water towers: temporary increase
/ decrease in water reserves;
Changes in groundwater recharge ;
Changes in timing and magnitude of river flows
(irrigation schemes tapping directly from
river, and storage requirements);
Temperature effects on water productivity:
unproductive evaporation;
CO2 fertilization and irrigation productivity: 3
4. “Over the past Gada, we have lost two
months of rain. Now the rain is not
coming at the right time: it is starting
later and finishing before long. My
daughter is now five years old and she
has not seen a good harvest yet.”
4
Lars Naess, 2009
5. Annual water balance (A) and water
withdrawal (B) of Africa and implications CC
(UNEP, 2010) (UNEP, 2005)
6. Make Choices : Scenarios to 2050
Today
Without productivity
improvements
CA Scenario
Policies for productivity gains, upgrading rainfed,
revitalized irrigation, trade
6
Based on WaterSim analysis for the CA
8. Climate-smart Rainwater management
systems (RWM)
• Integrated strategy that enables actors to
systematically map, capture, store and efficiently use
Green and Blue water in a landscape for productive
and domestic purposes and ecosystem services.
• Decrease unproductive water losses;
• Improve the water productivity (increase returns per
unit of water investment)
• Capitalizes on harvesting principles, water productivity
at various scales;
• Combining water management with land and
vegetation management. 8
9. Investing in Irrigation
Investing in Irrigation
2.5 320
World Bank lending for
irrigation 280
2.0
Irrigated Area
240
200
1.5
160
1.0
Food price index 120
80
0.5
40
0 0
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Dependency effect?
2005
9
10. Reduce water loss for climate
change adaptation
Average % loss
Loss % loss/
Canal type N flow rate per
(l/s/100m) 100m/30l/s
(l/s) 100m*
Main canal 121 43.21a 2.58a 6.46a 4.49b
Secondary canal 57 33.03b 1.59b 4.40b 4.00b
Field canal 49 2.88c 0.39c 2.49c 25.94a
11. Increased Storage Capacity for CC
adaptation; even without external support
Comparision of Per capita Storage Capacity
7000 6150
6000
4729
5000
Per CapitaStorage(m^3)
4000 3255
3000 2486
2000 1287 1406
746
1000
4 43
0
Kenya E opia
thi South T land
hai Laos China Brazil Australia North
Africa America
Countries
11
12. Micro dose 8
0
7
0
6
0
5
0
4
0
Fm
a C
r
3
0
4
Tuberyield(t/ha)
3
2
1
0
2
4
2
1
1
8 Fm
a B
r
1
5
1
2
4
Tuberyield(t/ha)
3
2
Zai
1
8
0
0
7
0
6
0 Fm
a A
r
5
0
4
0
Tuberyield(t/ha)
1
2
8
4
0
12
30 N
30 N
30 N
60N
N
60N
N
60N
N
0
0
0
C to
o rl
n Wo Z
ih t a
t u i W Z
ih a
t i
13. Improve Livestock Systems for CC adaptation
Improve feed quality; reduce
methane emissions
Integrate livestock into the wider
development agenda (e.g.
irrigation; watershed
management);
Developing watering points in
closer distances (> 35% milk
yield);
Limit conversion of range to annual
croplands;
Improve animal management
(health, feed quality, productivity);
Interventions to maximize
transpiration at the expense of
evaporation (feed);
Incentives for adaptation (Value
addition/ market opportunities) of
14. Convert unproductive water to productive use for
CC adaptation
High unproductive water losses = Low system productivity;
Kuhar Michael - all cropland Lenche Dima - all cropland
1800 3000
1600
2500
1400
flows per HH (m3)
flows per HH (m3)
1200 2000
1000 livestock livestock
1500
800 crops crops
600 1000
400
500
200
0 0
percolation
evaporation
transpiration
evaporation
transpiration
percolation
runoff
runoff
deep
deep
14
15. Building Adaptive capacity on local experiences
..
• Building on byelaws/ religious
organizations/ Water User
Associations
• Facilitate information flow /
technologies using local
channels
• Local institutions for collective
action: Upstream-downstream
• Commitment from local
authorities and policy makers
• Home gardens; women 15
16. Box 1: Majaluba for Rice Box 2. Small scale irrigation in
Production in Shinyanga, Tanzania Ethiopia
In Tanzania, farmers excavated SSI in four administrative regions of
bunded basins, locally known as Ethiopia,
‘majaluba’ which hold rainwater for
supplemental irrigation of crops in Crop yield under irrigation was
ASAL regions; higher by at least 35% compared to
non-irrigated farms;
About 35% of the rice in TZ is
produced this way under smallholder Benefits higher in farms where
farming Shinyanga, Dodoma, Tabora external inputs (fertilizer, improved
and the Lake Regions; seeds and pesticides) were used;
Majaluba utilize direct rainfall and Farmers replaced low yielding
runoff harvesting from external varieties by high yielding maize
catchments; cultivars;
Generally, rice yields are Shifted towards diverse
higher, attaining 3.43 t ha-1 with the cropping, up to 10 new marketable
use of harvested water for irrigation as crops;
compared to 2.17 t ha-1 ;
The real challenge: improving
These systems have increased
irrigation efficiency, creating local
household incomes by 67%.;
capacity and collective action with
Augment by other storage local communities; 16
infrastructures
17. Key messages for CC adaptation:
1. Investing in water storage at landscape and higher
scales (reservoirs, strategic dams, ground water etc..);
2. Policy geared towards climate-sensitive systems
(Agriculture / wetlands / water towers) and vulnerable
communities;
3. Cross-boundary hydrological planning /management;
drought and flood monitoring and information system;
coping strategies;
4. Improving rainwater management systems, from
capturing to efficient utilization and resilience;
17
5. Responsive research system along with resources for
18. Tilahun Amede
CPWF Nile Basin Leader
t.amede@cgiar.org
A CGIAR Challenge Programme Water for Food (CPWF)
aims to increase water productivity and resilience of
social and ecological systems
Thank you !