Ethiopia: The promise and challenges of water-harvesting in Tigray and Amhara

ADDIS ABABA, December 2003 - The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ethiopia released a Field Mission Report on the "Experiences of Water-Harvesting in Tigray and Amhara Regions" on 18 November 2003. The mission was undertaken to learn of the experience of the ambitious water-harvesting program, under the direction of the Ministry of Agriculture, which is a key element of the government's programs to increase food security of rural populations country-wide. The humanitarian community is extremely interested in seeing these longer-term initiatives succeed so as to reduce dependence on humanitarian food aid, and thus improve livelihoods for the future. This interest provided the motivation for OCHA to undertake the mission.

In Amhara and Tigray a total of approximately 70,000 ponds and tanks were constructed last fiscal year alone. A few hundred thousand more are to follow with the aim to reduce poverty and increase food security on a massive scale by making water available to irrigate and produce higher value crops and provide water for livestock. A secondary, but equally important benefit, is the provision of water for household use, greatly decreasing the work involved in fetching water, further increasing time that household members can devote to productive means.

The technology is simple and entails to use of either underground concrete lined tanks or clay or plastic-lined surface ponds, to allow water retention. Both the underground tanks and surface ponds collect runoff from rainfall and/or from roofs of houses. The rural population with instruction and designs provided by trained extension workers can do all of the required construction.

Although the program has experienced some problems in construction and implementation, due in part to the ambitious goals and targets and a lack of enough skilled extension personnel, the program has demonstrated that success is possible if proper construction is undertaken, linings of ponds are properly prepared and ponds are placed properly so as to receive and hold maximum runoff from rainfall. If properly operating, the ponds can provide additional water for irrigation of small holdings of land during the rainy season, and can provide water for a few weeks after the end of the season to enhance and ensure better yields. The following description illustrates only one example observed by the mission of successful use of water-harvesting ponds: Dangolo Tabia is a model village in Wukro Woreda. It boasts 30 ponds, mainly clay and plastic-lined serving a total of 80 households. Small gardens with peppers, tomatoes, maize, root crops and freshly planted fruit and coffee trees, which were planted during the rainy season, are found around most of the ponds. While all of the ponds remained full during the rainy season, now only the plastic-lined ponds contain water, remaining about one-half full since the cessation of the rains in September, three weeks earlier. There is sufficient water for irrigation until crop maturation. Sale of vegetables has generated significant income for families who have planted these crops.

One problem that is concerning relates to the possible increase in malaria incidence where ponds are used. In this regard, the Bureaus of Health in the two regions, in consultation with the MOA, are currently seeking support to undertake a study of the potential health risk of open ponds, particularly related to possible increased incidence of malaria, and possible mitigation approaches.

Despite problems encountered thus far, it was made clear to the mission by Ministry of Agriculture staff in the field as well as by farmers themselves that there is tremendous untapped potential for better collection and use of natural rainfall, and the government's water harvesting approach is one promising technology. Based on the mission findings, several recommendations were offered based on experience on the ground. The most important were: (1) to consider reducing somewhat the ambitious annual goals, so that they coincide with the capacity to implement schemes effectively, (2) provide more flexibility in selecting the most appropriate technology or approaches for water harvesting/retention in specific agro-ecological areas, (3) investigate the potential for use of ground water in appropriate areas before investing in surface water retention structures and (4) attempt to integrate water-harvesting schemes into broader water resource and land management programs as much as possible.

UN organizations including the World Food Program (WFP) and The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), several bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, as well as NGOs are currently supporting approaches to better capture and utilize rainfall before it runs off and is unavailable for crop irrigation and livestock watering. Some are directly supporting water-harvesting type schemes. This support needs to be increased. It is hoped that the lessons from the current government program, some of which were noted in the OCHA Mission Report, will help to provide guidance for donors to direct assistance to improve upon and enhance current approaches to water-harvesting.

For more information, please contact the UN OCHA - Ethiopia.

Tel: 251- 1- 44 44 14 / 251- 1- 44 41 51
Fax: 251- 1- 511292
email: ocha-eth@un.org
Website: www.ocha-eth.org