Technical performance evaluation of selected small scale irrigation schemes in North Shoa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

In order to evaluate the technical performance and status of irrigation water management of Mummiti, Laga-Warke, Taltale, Alaltu-Tiko, and Alaltu-Dubana small scale irrigation schemes in North Shoa Zone, data on both internal and external indicators and status of irrigation water management like soil data, flow data, crop yield data, farm gate prices of each crops and other important data were collected and analyzed by using appropriate tools. From the internal performance indicators, values for conveyance efficiency for the considered irrigation schemes range from 39%-67%, while that of application and overall efficiencies range from 32%-41% and 14.4%-27.5%, respectively. This indicated that for most irrigation schemes, application and overall efficiencies were poor implying the management was poor. The results for external performance indicators like output per crop area, output per command area, output per irrigation supply, and irrigation ratio also showed mostly low output from the respective command areas as compared with outputs intended from the concerned schemes under normal condition. Further, the status of irrigation water management was found to be from low to medium range for most activities under irrigation water management. Hence, the study indicated that the issue of improving irrigation performances and irrigation water management in the study area should be prioritized.