EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Livestock and Small-Scale Irrigation Scheme Interactions as a Key Source for Sedimentation during the Irrigation Season: Four Case Studies from South-West Shoa, Ethiopia

Hanan Tadele Dessalegn, Alex Bolding, Charlotte de Fraiture and Mekonen Ayana
Additional contact information
Hanan Tadele Dessalegn: Faculty of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch P.O. Box 21, Ethiopia
Alex Bolding: Water Resources Management Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Charlotte de Fraiture: Water Resources Management Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Mekonen Ayana: Department of Water Resources Engineering, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama P.O. Box 1888, Ethiopia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: Small-scale irrigation (SSI) development can play a major role in Ethiopia’s economic development, but sedimentation is a major threat to its sustainability. The focus of the dominant discourse around the sedimentation of SSI schemes lies in upstream catchment protection during the rainy season, neglecting both protection against erosion through overland flow along the margins of the canal network and sedimentation caused by livestock disturbances. Remedies against the latter causes of sedimentation during the irrigation season have been ineffective due to erroneous assumptions regarding its cause. This study aimed to identify the sources and extent of sedimentation in SSI schemes. The accumulated sediment in the canal pre-irrigation season was measured from four SSI schemes and suspended sediment samples during irrigation season were collected from one SSI scheme. The accumulated sediment in the canal pre-irrigation season was measured from four SSI and suspended sediment samples during irrigation season were collected from one SSI scheme. The extent of sedimentation in the canals during the pre-irrigation season in relation to canal capacity was 100% of lined and unlined canals in abandoned, 68% in a lined, and 84% unlined canals in heavily sedimented and 38% in a lined and 46% of unlined canals lightly sedimented schemes. Livestock interactions with the SSI schemes were found to be the major sediment source before and during the irrigation, hence, attention should be given to integrating livestock as a part of the system.

Keywords: small-scale irrigation scheme; sedimentation; livestock access; sediment cause (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5745/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5745/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5745-:d:558723

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5745-:d:558723