AGRO-CLIMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE PROJECT AREA

 Agro-climatic parameters to be employed for irrigation water use

prediction are:
 Rainfall, Temperature, humidity, wind speed and sunshine hour.
 Sources of climate data
 Class “I” meteorology station shall be accessed from nearby station
 Class I station is recording rainfall, temperature, sunshine duration,
wind speed and direction, cloud amount, soil temperature, Pan
Evaporation, and Pitche evaporation data
 Class III station collects only air temperature and rainfall; and class IV
collect only rainfall
 satellite based verified datasets or corrected with Ethiopian
observation data
climate Forecast System Re-analysis (CFSR) daily rainfall dataset
can be a reliable source, which is developed with ~ 38 km spatial
resolution of a 32 year (1979 -2010),
 The Guideline
 While irrigation development is at the top government’s priority
agendas
 Irrigated land in different scales has been aggressively
expanding from time to time.
 To respond to this ever-growing irrigation development the
quality delivery of small-scale irrigation development planning,
implementation and management should be improved
accordingly
 The Gidline attempt to explain and illustrate the important
concepts, considerations and procedures in SSI planning,
implementation and management; and shall be used as a
guiding framework for professionals engaged in SSI
development.
 it has been decided to develop standard SSI guidelines that
must be nationally applied
 The Guideline
 the SSIGLs provide information and guides they
must be always fully considered and applied by
adapting them to the local specific requirements
 the outlines, contents and scope of the Guideline
was thoroughly discussed, reviewed and modified
by senior professionals from public, national and
international stakeholder.
 At each milestone of SSIGL preparation, resource
persons from all stakeholders reviewed and
confirmed that SSIGLs have met the demands and
expectations of users.
 The Guideline
 the SSIGLs provide information and guides they must be always
fully considered and applied by adapting them to the local
specific requirements
 the outlines, contents and scope of the Guideline was thoroughly
discussed, reviewed and modified by senior professionals from
public, national and international stakeholder.
 At each milestone of SSIGL preparation, resource persons from
all stakeholders reviewed and confirmed that SSIGLs have met
the demands and expectations of users.
 This version of the GL has particular reference to the prevailing
conditions in Ethiopia and reflects the experience gained through
activities within the sub-sector during subsequent years.
 This version shall be used as a starting point for future update,
revision and improvement.
 The Guideline Content
Chapter 1. Background
Chapter 2. Objectives and scope of guideline
Chapter 3. Data collection Procedures and Methodologies
Primary and secondary data sources, collection methods
Chapter 4. Existing Agricultural Situation Description

Location; Agro-ecology; LGP analysis, Land resource assessment;

farming system; Existing rainfed and irrigated agriculture
assessment; description of agricultural practices; input utilization;
crop pest conditions; livestock production; identification of
agricultural constraints and opportunities
 The Guideline Content
Proposal Section
Chapter 5. Crop election Criteria and cropping pattern
Criteria; Procedures; CP establishment consideration &
example for different agro-ecologies
Chapter 6. Cropping Intensity, Crop rotation and crop
calendar
Chapter 7. Crop water requirement computation
procedures to calculate ETo; Input requirements; data
sources
Effective rainfall determination
Crop Data requirement for CWR estimation
Soil data input and purpose
 The Guideline Content
Proposal Section
Cropping pattern input CWR & IR calculation
Net irrigation requirement competation
Determination of scheme irriation efficiency
Procedures and calculation of gross irrigation reqment

Chapter 8. Irrigation schedule with empirical formula and

CROPWAT 8 software
Chapter 9. Estimation of Agricultural input requirements
Chapter 10. Yield estimates and projection
Steps for yield buildup; assumptions; methods and estimates
Chapter 11. Crop Budget Estimate
 The Guideline Content
Proposal Section
Chapter 12. Improved agronomic practices for
proposed practices
Chapter 13. Irrigated Agriculture development
interventions
 The Guideline Content
Appendices
APPENDIX I: Focus Group Discussion Checklists for Irrigation
Agronomy Study
APPENDIX II: Kebele level Irrigation development questionnaire
APPENDIX III: Wereda Agricultural Development Office checklist
APPENDIX IV: Reporting formats for study findings
APPENDIX V: Agricultural development scenario determination for
cropping pattern development
APPENDIX VI: Sample formats for summary of agricultural input
recommendations
APPENDIX VII: Formats for summary of crop yield and production
projections
APPENDIX VIII: Format for Estimation of crop budgets
APPENDIX IX: Manual calculation of crop water requirement (Hargreaves
Method) and irrigation schedule
 The Guideline Content
Appendices
APPENDIX X: Released crop varieties and their requirements
APPENDIX XI: Summarized description of the major agro-ecological zones
of Ethiopia
APPENDIX XII: Single crop coefficient (Kc) for different crops and mean
maximum crop height
APPENDIX XIII: Crop Coefficient for Four crop development stages
APPENDIX XIV: Ranges of maximum effective rooting depth (Zr), and soil
water depletion fraction for no stress (p), for common crops
APPENDIX XV: Agro-ecological Zones Map of Ethiopia
APPENDIX XVI: Map of Annual Evapotranspiration Class
APPENDIX XVII: Maximum ecological amplitudes for some tropical crops

APPENDIX XVIII: Compost preparation

APPENDIX XIX: Major type of farming System of Ethiopia
Background and Scope of the Guideline
 Why this guideline prepared
 The smallholder farming is still contributing and remains to be the
dominant farming system and an important economic sector in
the national economy of Ethiopia
 smallholder-farming is constrained by various factors that
challenge attaining food self-sufficiency, reducing poverty, and
realizing sectoral transformation.
  To this effect, promotion of market-oriented irrigated agriculture,
with particular emphasis on production of high value irrigated
crops is expected to play a very significant role in transforming
the smallholder subsistence agriculture to commercialization
 It has been found that; lack of standard guidelines in Irrigation
agronomy and Agricultural development plan is one of the
challenge, thus lead to initiation and preparation of the guidelines
 Scope of the Guideline
 This guideline is therefore, prepared to provide an overall guidance to readers or
end users to properly conduct a feasibility study on irrigation agronomy to be
treated as an integral part for the study & preparation of small-scale irrigation
development projects.
 Therefore, in the current guideline included all important components, update
agronomic information and procedures to be applied for irrigation agronomic
feasibility studies to be integrated with the series of multi-sectoral SSID studies.
  
 This guideline is developed targeting the young graduate staff at all levels to
enable them to successfully conduct the feasibility study of small-scale irrigation
projects by adopting the recommended assessment and analysis procedures
 The guideline is designed in such a way as to deliver some basic and useful
information to readers that will assist them to undertake a rapid assessment of
community managed irrigation schemes.
 
 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY METHODOLOGIES

The application of specific procedures or techniques to

be used to identify, assess, and analyze information in
the context of irrigated agriculture.
The methodology section trying to answer two main
questions:
What standardized methodologies to be used for data
collection for feasibility study and;
How the data quality is assessed and analyzed.
Type of Data commonly used
Primary data: obtained from direct beneficiaries
Secondary Data: collected from third parties
 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY METHODOLOGIES

Methodology section:
Introduce the overall methodological approach: Is your study
qualitative or quantitative or a combination of both?
Indicate how the approach fits the overall study design or the
objective of the feasibility study
Describe the specific methods of data collection you are going to use
Explain how you intend to analyze your results.
Provide a justification for sample selection and sampling procedure.
For instance, if you propose to conduct interviews, how do you intend
to select the sample population? If you are using statistics, why is this
set of statistics being used? If other data sources exist, explain why
the data you chose is most appropriate to addressing the study
issues.
Describe potential limitations
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY METHODOLOGIES

Primary Data Secondary data

collection collection

Participants: Identified Participants:

Project Beneficiaries and Stakeholders, all
Expert involving I the levels offices
study

Review documents,
interview
Methods: FGD, KII, stakeholders and
Field observation indirect
beneficiaries
 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY METHODOLOGIES

1. DESK WORK AND REVIEW

Before the commencement of the fieldwork, the irrigation
agronomist is expected to undertake the followings activities as
part of the preparatory works:

 Prepare precise and manageable checklists

 Proper literature review and identify the data gaps and additional
data requirements;
 Identify potential stakeholders at all
 Estimate number of focus groups to be held
 Prepare tentative working schedule on daily basis in consultation
with other team members;
 Make sure that the required logistics involving transportation facility,
field materials and budget are available and ready
 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY METHODOLOGIES

2. PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES

 Primary data required for description and analysis of development
constraints and potentials agricultural interventions.
 Data collection methods or survey tools: (i) Focus Group
Discussion (FGD);(ii) Key informant interview (KII); (iii) Household
survey (HHS); (iv) Stakeholders’ consultation and (v) Field
observations using transect walk.
Focus Group Discussion (FGD): requires the preparation of checklist for
the intended focus group
The group should be formulated in consultation with beneficiaries and
development agents.
The size should be manageable and members must be represented from
different socio-economic groups and part of the command area
 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY METHODOLOGIES

Household survey: Stratified random sampling must be used to select the target
group and households for interview
The size of the sample depends on the homogeneity of the population, farming
system, soils, agro-climatic zones, ethnic complexity and other factors
Stakeholder consultation: potential and relevant institutions like kebel, wereda,
zone, NGO, CBOs need to be consulted on relevant issues to get adequate
information
2-1Focus Group Discussion
Focus group Discussion questions should be:
 Short and to the point
 Focused on one dimension each
 Unambiguously worded
 Open-ended or sentence completion types
 Non-threatening or non-embarrassing
 Worded in a way that they cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” answer
 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY METHODOLOGIES

 Selecting participants for FGD:

The richness of the data is emerging from the group members’ diversity
because of difference in age, gender, farming experiences, technology
exposure, access to resources, landholding size and other factors.
 The number of households participating in focus group sessions shall be
ranging from 10 – 12 households
 The households representing different socio-economic groups like women
headed households, elders, youth group, model farmers and traditional
irrigation users (if any).
 The facilitator has to be recruited from the project wereda or Kebele. Local
level facilitators are fluent in their local language.
FGD session time span:
 FGD sessions usually last from 1-2 hours and should include time for
participants to take health breaks
 Allocate timeframe for each discussion point
 Be precise in asking questions to clearly set what is being asked and to
briefly capture the main essence of replies.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES

Elder’s Blessing before the start of

consultation
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
 Issues expected to be covered in FGD are:

 Assessing the existing agricultural production systems,

 Input utilization experience,
 prominent existing cropping pattern,
 cultivated land use,
 irrigation scheduling,
 irrigation water managements;
 their crop preference for the anticipated project,
 agricultural development constraints,
 possible recommendations for the improvements of crop
production, and
 farmers’ comments on type of irrigation structure.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
 Debriefing session:
 Should take place immediately after the completion of focus group
session
 Summarize the findings to develop common understanding and their
acceptance.

2-2 Key informant interview

 Key informant interviews (KIIs) suggested to be carried out with
selected knowledgeable and informative farmers to capture very
important information on critical points
 This method is useful to collect mainly qualitative data or information.
 The key informant interview could enrich and support the information
obtained from farmers during FGD and can fill the data gap, which is
supposed and difficult to get by other data collection tools.
 The number of participants should not exceed more than 3-4 informants
.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
Issues to be covered:
 Existing crop production system,
 development constraints,
 good and bad irrigation experience,
 historical trends on prevalence of pest infestation,
 rainfall pattern, flood occurrence,
 experience in agricultural input utilization,
 recommendations for improvement, and other issues to be raised from
local conditions.
 Time required: It is recommended to spend 15-25 minutes with each
participant.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
2.3 Multi- sectorial household Survey
 The household survey will be undertaken to address some important
issues in collaboration with the socio-economist
 the information to be included could be very selective and focused
on essential issues.
 The agronomist will select provide to the socio-economist to integrate
in multi-sectoral survey questionnaires.
 Some of these issues are
 Cultivated land covered by major crops;
 Average landholding size in and outside the command area;
 Major inputs utilized;
 Crop preference for irrigated agriculture;
 Crop yield and production;
 Livestock holding, and
 Major constraints of agricultural development.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
 The procedures for household survey are described in socio-economy
study guideline. (Please, refer SSIGL A7: SSIP Guideline for Socio-
Economic Study).
2-4 Field transect walk observation
 Field observation needs to be held to familiarize yourself with the
farmers’ experiences and existing agricultural practices
 The farmers and development agents can be consulted during
transect walk
 Issues to be focused during transect walk across command area
 Current conditions of land resources,
 Performance of crops on the field,
 Occurrence of water logging and land degradation,
 Cropland utilization,
 Pest incidence and frequency and experience in pest management,
 Constraints for implementation of irrigated agriculture and others
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
3. secondary data collection
3.1 Stakeholders’ Consultation
 During the inception phase, potential stakeholders should be identified at
all levels (regional, zonal, wereda and kebele) for consultation and data
collection.
 The consultation undertaken at different levels from the grass root up to
zonal office levels as required.
 List of stakeholders for consultation
 the Agriculture and Natural Resource Bureaus/office,
 Water Resources Bureaus/office,
 Irrigation Development Agencies,
 Agricultural Research Institutes,
 Seed Enterprises,
 Kebele agricultural office; and
 Farmer Service Cooperatives and Unions
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
 Tentative issues to be covered during stakeholders’ consultation.
 Policy issue and development plan
 Agricultural production practices,
 Input supply system,
 Availability and accessibility of improved technologies,
 Potential irrigable crops,
 Agricultural marketing,
 Potential agro-processing activities and others.
 Checklists for selected stakeholders are attached in Appendix II and III
3.2 Review of reports and research outputs
 periodical reports and research outputs and proceedings shall be
referred to, and valuable data need to be noted
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
3.3 Review on-going sectorial studies
 The findings from other sectorial studies of the on-going feasibility
study such as soil survey and land evaluation study, engineering,
hydrology, socio-economy, ESIA; and watershed need to be inter-
changed for analysis and recommendations
 Before the commencement of the fieldwork, the agronomist should
provide list of data required from each sector study.

4. DATA COMPILATION AND ANALYSIS

 Some of the parameters to be analyzed are:
 Existing yield and production trend analysis;
 Existing cropping pattern;
 ETo computation; crop water requirement and duty determination;
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
 ETo computation; crop water requirement and duty determination;
 Computing net and gross irrigation requirements;
 Determination of irrigation interval and depth;
 Agricultural input requirements;
 Crop budget with and without project; and
 Crop yield and production projection

5. MATERIALS REQUIRED FOR THE STUDY

 List of stakeholders;
 Data collection checklists and questionnaires;
 Note book, CD or Flash for note taking and/or record keeping/documentation;
 Topographic map of the project area and/or hard copy of satellite imagery of the
project site;
 GPS; Field soil and water parameters test tools (pH meter, wash bottles, etc);
 Camera/recorder; Computer
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
6. Data required from different sector studies
 Engineering study
 Recommended type of irrigation application systems: surface or
pressurized or spate;
 Command area geographic location;
 Major irrigation and drainage structure features including length of
water distribution structures and drainage system; number of
blocks;
 Size of gross and net command area after consultation with soil
experts;
 Socio-economy study
 Social and public service infrastructure
 The availability and accessibility of health, water supply and
education facilities; veterinary clinics;
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
 Road infrastructure and accessibility of the command and
headwork sites; and means of transportation.
 Input supply and credit service provider partners (formal and
informal)
 Beneficiaries, Population and Demographic Characteristics:
 Estimated number of household heads, population, population density
 Average family Size
 Farm labour or number of active population group.
 Marketing
 Marketing channels; marketing size and structures;
 Prices of agricultural inputs and outputs
 Marketing constraints;
 Household agricultural product utilization for consumption, market and
reserve;
 Local and export market potentials for project production
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
Soils survey and land suitability Evaluation
 Descriptions/characterization of land and soil resources
 Major types of soils and area coverage in the command area
 Gross and net command area sizes
 Land form and topographic condition,
 Natural Vegetation and Land Use,
 External Drainage & flooding status,
 Status of Soil Erosion;
 Climate and Depth of Ground Water Table
 Soil Physical Characteristics
 Effective Soil Depth;
 Soil texture and Structures;
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
 Infiltration rate and hydraulic conductivity
 Soil moisture condition including field capacity (FC), permanent
wilting point (PWP), bulk density
 Depth of Soft Weathering Rock
 Drainage characteristics
 Soil Chemical Characteristics
 Soil acidity and alkalinity; Electrical Conductivity;
 Cation Exchange Capacity and Base Saturation;
 Exchangeable Cautions;
 Organic Matter and Organic Carbon; Total N;
 Cationic Ratios Exchangeable Sodium Percentage,
 Available Phosphorus; Carbonates;
 Toxic elements; Salts
 Water Quality Analysis (for heavy metals, suitability for irrigation);
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
 Soil /Land and crop suitability Evaluation
 Land suitability analysis results by soil mapping unit
 Land suitability map
 Crop suitability analysis
 Crop suitability map
 Soil and Land Management
 Recommended Land and soil status improving management
practices
 Soil and water conservation measures, and
 Combating salinity, sodicity and acidity problems...etc.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
D. Climatic and Hydrologic Data
 Monthly rainfall data (mm)
 Mean Monthly Minimum and Maximum temperatures (oc)
 Mean Monthly Sunshine hours (hr.)
 Mean Monthly Wind speed (m/sec)
 Mean Monthly Relative Humidity (%)
 Mean monthly flows
 Water Balance Analysis (at watershed and command area scales)
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
Data expected from irrigation agronomy study to other sectors
 Description of current agricultural activities and resources of the
project area
 Major farming system practiced in the project area
 Major crops grown in the project area
 Existing cropping patterns for without project analysis
 Existing input utilization experiences in terms of rate of application
 Yield estimates of major crops grown in the command area
 Major limiting factors or constraints of crop production system
 Proposed irrigated agriculture development data
 List of proposed crops
 Proposed cropping patterns for supplementary and full irrigation seasons
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND STUDY
METHODOLOGIES
Data expected from irrigation agronomy study to other sectors
 Description of current agricultural activities and resources
 Major farming system practiced in the project area
 Major crops grown in the project area
 Existing cropping patterns for without project analysis
 Existing input utilization experiences in terms of rate of application
 Yield estimates of major crops grown in the command area
 Major limiting factors or constraints of crop production system
 Proposed irrigated agriculture development data
 List of proposed crops
 Proposed cropping patterns for supplementary and full irrigation seasons
 Irrigation depth and schedule by crop
 Types and quantity of recommended agricultural inputs mainly for SEIA and
financial analysis sectors
 Data Exchange Network
Soil assessment
Agronomy - Land use
- Existing cropping - Slope gradient
pattern with budget distribution
-Proposed cropping - Physical and chemicals
pattern & area c o v e r a g
analysis
-Yield projection Soil nutrient status
-Input requirement -soil moisture condition
- CWR /duty -Land suitability results
- Irrigation depth
and schedule
Engineering sector study
- Base flow
- Irrigation application
method
Financial and Economic
Conveyance and distribution
Analysis structure effi ciency
Water resource discharge at dry
and wet season Q