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GIS-Based Irrigation Potential Assessment for Surface Irrigation: The Case of Birbir River Watershed, Oromia, Ethiopia

Received: 25 June 2021     Accepted: 16 July 2021     Published: 24 August 2021
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Abstract

The assessment process of surface irrigation has to integrate information about the suitability of the land; water resource availability and water requirements of irrigate able areas in time and place. Birbir River is one of well-known river found in western Ethiopia. The Birbir River is a tributary of the Baro-Akobo river basin, which creates Baro River when it joins with Gebba River. Ethiopia has immense potential in expanding irrigation using available water resources. But due to lack of information related to cultivable and irrigation suitability of the land, its agricultural system does not yet fully productive. Geographic Information System can be an effective tool in identifying irrigable land and mapping of suitable land for irrigation. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess the surface irrigation potential of the Birbir river watershed using ArcGIS 10.3. Different methods of data processing and analysis have been employed in this study. The main suitability factors used to identify the potential irrigable land for surface irrigation were slope, soil texture, soil depth, soil type, soil drainage characteristics, land use, land cover and distance to water source. The consistency of rainfall and stream flow data were checked by double mass curve and the areal mean of rainfall and temperature data were determined by using Theissen polygon method whereas the irrigation water demands of the selected two crops (maize and potato) were calculated separately using FAO cropwat model. By weighting values of the seven factors using Analytic Hierarchy Process and overlaying by weighted overlay in ArcGIS 10.3, the irrigation suitability map was developed and potential irrigable land for surface irrigation was found to be 17%, 63% and 20% for highly suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2), and marginally suitable (S3) respectively. Irrigation potential of the Birbir river watershed was obtained by comparing monthly gross irrigation requirements of the identified land suitable for surface irrigation and the available 80% mean monthly dependable flows in the river catchments. The potential irrigable land that can be irrigated without provision of storage structures was found to be around 68,000 ha from the total of 106,223 ha suitable land for surface irrigation.

Published in American Journal of Civil Engineering (Volume 9, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14
Page(s) 127-137
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Birbir River Watershed, Digital Elevation Model, Geographic Information System, Irrigation Land Suitability, Suitability Parameter

References
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[2] Bihmani O., 2013. Opinions of the Management to Realize and Improve Water Productivity in Agriculture. Central Statistical Agency, 2016. Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia.
[3] Bekele Y, Nata T, Bheemalingswara K, 2012. Preliminary Study on the Impact of Water Quality and Irrigation Practices on Soil Salinity and Crop Production, Gergera Watershed, Atsbi-Wonberta, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Momona Ethiop. j. sci. 4: 29-46.
[4] Yazew E. 2005. Development and management of irrigated lands in Tigray, Ethiopia. Thesis UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. Delft, the Netherlands, 265.
[5] Federal Democratic Repulic of Ethiopia, 2011. Small-Scale Irrigation Capacity-building Strategy for Ethiopia. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[6] Seleshi, B Awulachew., 2010. Irrigation Potential in Ethiopia Constraints and Opportunities for Enhancing the System. International Water Mangement Institute. Constraints and opportunities for enhancing the system with contributions from: Teklu Erkossa and Regassa E. Namara. International Water Management Institute. page 17 and 22.
[7] Belete Bantero, 2006. Across systems comparative assessment of Hare Community managed irrigation schemes performance. MSc thesis, Arba Minch University.
[8] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 1994. Andreas P. S. and Karen F. Crop Water Requirements and Irrigation Scheduling. Water Resources Development and Management Officers FAO Sub-Regional Office for East and Southern Africa: Irrigation Manual Module 4. Harare, Zimbabwe.
[9] Negash Wagesho, 2004. GIS Based Irrigation suitability analysis, A Case Study of Abaya Chamo Basin Southern Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Jornal of Water Technology, Arba minch University Institute of Water Technology.
[10] MoWE (2013) Ministry of water and energy of Ethiopia: MoWR, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE), Addis Ababa.
[11] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 1995. Guideline for Land Evaluation for Irrigated Agriculture. Soils Bulletin, 55. FAO, Rome.
[12] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 1997. Irrigation potential in Africa: A basin approach FAO Land and Water Bulletin 4.
[13] Fasina, A. S., G. O Awe, and J. O Aruleba, 2008. Irrigation suitability evaluation and crop yield an example with Amaranthus cruentus in Southwestern Nigeria. African Journal of Plant Science Vol. 2 (7), pp. 61-66, July 2008.
[14] FAO. (2007). Land evaluation towards a revised framework. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome.
[15] Hailegebriel Shiferaw (2007). Irrigation Potential Evaluation and Crop Suitability analysis using GIS and Remote Sensing Technique in Beles Sub basin, Beneshangul Gumez Region. MSc thesis, Addis Ababa University.
[16] Sander P., Chesley M. and Minor T. 1996. Groundwater assessment using remote sensing and GIS in a rural groundwater project in Ghana. Hydrogeology Journal, 4 (3), 78-93.
[17] Seth S. M., 1999. Procedures for systematic Processing of rainfall data, India’s water balance: Current science 102: 964-967.
[18] Asawa, G. L., 2008. Irrigation and water Resources Engineering. 1st edition, new age international publishers, New Delhi, India.
[19] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 1998. Land use planning applications. Proceedings of the FAO Expert Consultation, 1990.
[20] Addisu, S., Kassawmar, B., Mekuriaw, A., & Haileslassie, A., 2019. Geographic Information System based suitability analysis for potentials and challenges of small-scale irrigation in Lake Tana sub-basin, Ethiopia. International Journal of River Basin Management, 1-12.
[21] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 1976. A framework for land evaluation. Soils Bulletin, No. 32 FAO, Rome Africa. FAO, Rome, Italy.
[22] Food and Agricultural Organization (1979) Land Evaluation Criteria for Irrigation: Report of Land Expert Consultation Held in Rome.
[23] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 1991. Land use planning applications. Proceedings of the FAO Expert Consultation, 1990.
[24] Birhanu, A., Murlidhar Pingale, S., Soundharajan, B. S., & Singh, P., 2019). GIS-Based Surface Irrigation Potential Assessment for Ethiopian River Basin. Irrigation and Drainage, 68 (4), 607-616.
[25] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 1999. Irrigation and water resources potential for Africa. FAO AGL/MISC/11/87. Rome, Italy.
[26] Ministry of Agriculture, 2011. Small-scale irrigation situation analysis and capacity needs assessment. Irrigation Development Department, MOA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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    Garuma Negasa. (2021). GIS-Based Irrigation Potential Assessment for Surface Irrigation: The Case of Birbir River Watershed, Oromia, Ethiopia. American Journal of Civil Engineering, 9(4), 127-137. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14

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    ACS Style

    Garuma Negasa. GIS-Based Irrigation Potential Assessment for Surface Irrigation: The Case of Birbir River Watershed, Oromia, Ethiopia. Am. J. Civ. Eng. 2021, 9(4), 127-137. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14

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    AMA Style

    Garuma Negasa. GIS-Based Irrigation Potential Assessment for Surface Irrigation: The Case of Birbir River Watershed, Oromia, Ethiopia. Am J Civ Eng. 2021;9(4):127-137. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14,
      author = {Garuma Negasa},
      title = {GIS-Based Irrigation Potential Assessment for Surface Irrigation: The Case of Birbir River Watershed, Oromia, Ethiopia},
      journal = {American Journal of Civil Engineering},
      volume = {9},
      number = {4},
      pages = {127-137},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajce.20210904.14},
      abstract = {The assessment process of surface irrigation has to integrate information about the suitability of the land; water resource availability and water requirements of irrigate able areas in time and place. Birbir River is one of well-known river found in western Ethiopia. The Birbir River is a tributary of the Baro-Akobo river basin, which creates Baro River when it joins with Gebba River. Ethiopia has immense potential in expanding irrigation using available water resources. But due to lack of information related to cultivable and irrigation suitability of the land, its agricultural system does not yet fully productive. Geographic Information System can be an effective tool in identifying irrigable land and mapping of suitable land for irrigation. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess the surface irrigation potential of the Birbir river watershed using ArcGIS 10.3. Different methods of data processing and analysis have been employed in this study. The main suitability factors used to identify the potential irrigable land for surface irrigation were slope, soil texture, soil depth, soil type, soil drainage characteristics, land use, land cover and distance to water source. The consistency of rainfall and stream flow data were checked by double mass curve and the areal mean of rainfall and temperature data were determined by using Theissen polygon method whereas the irrigation water demands of the selected two crops (maize and potato) were calculated separately using FAO cropwat model. By weighting values of the seven factors using Analytic Hierarchy Process and overlaying by weighted overlay in ArcGIS 10.3, the irrigation suitability map was developed and potential irrigable land for surface irrigation was found to be 17%, 63% and 20% for highly suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2), and marginally suitable (S3) respectively. Irrigation potential of the Birbir river watershed was obtained by comparing monthly gross irrigation requirements of the identified land suitable for surface irrigation and the available 80% mean monthly dependable flows in the river catchments. The potential irrigable land that can be irrigated without provision of storage structures was found to be around 68,000 ha from the total of 106,223 ha suitable land for surface irrigation.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - GIS-Based Irrigation Potential Assessment for Surface Irrigation: The Case of Birbir River Watershed, Oromia, Ethiopia
    AU  - Garuma Negasa
    Y1  - 2021/08/24
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14
    T2  - American Journal of Civil Engineering
    JF  - American Journal of Civil Engineering
    JO  - American Journal of Civil Engineering
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    EP  - 137
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8737
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210904.14
    AB  - The assessment process of surface irrigation has to integrate information about the suitability of the land; water resource availability and water requirements of irrigate able areas in time and place. Birbir River is one of well-known river found in western Ethiopia. The Birbir River is a tributary of the Baro-Akobo river basin, which creates Baro River when it joins with Gebba River. Ethiopia has immense potential in expanding irrigation using available water resources. But due to lack of information related to cultivable and irrigation suitability of the land, its agricultural system does not yet fully productive. Geographic Information System can be an effective tool in identifying irrigable land and mapping of suitable land for irrigation. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess the surface irrigation potential of the Birbir river watershed using ArcGIS 10.3. Different methods of data processing and analysis have been employed in this study. The main suitability factors used to identify the potential irrigable land for surface irrigation were slope, soil texture, soil depth, soil type, soil drainage characteristics, land use, land cover and distance to water source. The consistency of rainfall and stream flow data were checked by double mass curve and the areal mean of rainfall and temperature data were determined by using Theissen polygon method whereas the irrigation water demands of the selected two crops (maize and potato) were calculated separately using FAO cropwat model. By weighting values of the seven factors using Analytic Hierarchy Process and overlaying by weighted overlay in ArcGIS 10.3, the irrigation suitability map was developed and potential irrigable land for surface irrigation was found to be 17%, 63% and 20% for highly suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2), and marginally suitable (S3) respectively. Irrigation potential of the Birbir river watershed was obtained by comparing monthly gross irrigation requirements of the identified land suitable for surface irrigation and the available 80% mean monthly dependable flows in the river catchments. The potential irrigable land that can be irrigated without provision of storage structures was found to be around 68,000 ha from the total of 106,223 ha suitable land for surface irrigation.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Engineering and Technology, Wollega University, Nekemte, Ethiopia

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