Do Water Users Associations (WUAs) in Ethiopia have the capacity to sustain the use of irrigation schemes? Evidences from Central and Southern Ethiopia

Do Water Users Associations (WUAs) in Ethiopia have the capacity to sustain the use of irrigation schemes? Evidences from Central and Southern Ethiopia
File Size:
1.15 MB
Author:
Mekonnen Bekele Wakeyo
Date:
01 November 2016
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918 x

The Ethiopian Economy is dominated by agriculture. Agriculture contributes about 42% of the GDP in 2012/13 (MoFED, 2013). It hosts about 85% of the rural population for employment, and it is also nearly 90% of the source of foreign currency. The main actors in this important sector are the smallholder farmers whose production and land share is more than 95%. Because agriculture is dependent on natural land and rainfall endowments, the natural calamities and risk associated with it (drought and moisture stress risks) and the traditional backward production technologies, among others, confront the Ethiopian smallholder Agriculture. On the top of this, the rural population is increasing and exerts pressure on land. The population pressure ends in expanding area into marginal lands and environmentally susceptible areas, which calls for intensification of agriculture. The climate risks and backward technologies for long time restricted Ethiopian agriculture to low yields, and the recent yield achievements has to be sustained to feed the growing population.

 
 
 
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