Improved irrigation management and agricultural practices in Ziway, Ethiopia

The Ziway-Shalla basin (Central Rift Valley, Ehtiopia) suffers from a combination of land degradation and agricultural expansion. The agricultural expansion is marked by a shift from rainfed to irrigated horticulture, resulting in intensification in the use of water resources and ultimately a water-use imbalance in the Ziway-Shalla basin.

The local Meki Batu Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Cooperative Union (MBCU) actively guides over 8000 smallholder farmers in the area. The uncontrolled expansion poses difficulties in the knowledge transfer on improved irrigation and agricultural practices to practitioners in the Ziway-Shalla Basin. To assist MBCU, a training program is being developed by Acacia Water and Wageningen University to train extension officers of MBCU and make them local water ambassadors to promote and guide practitioners on improved irrigation management and agricultural practices.

The training focuses on the local horticultural crops grown and takes into account the current agricultural practices to come up with a tailored agro-hydrological approach to wisely use the available water resources. The Tailor Made Training is part of the NUFFIC (https://www.nuffic.nl/) Orange Knowledge Program and known as: ‘Good Agricultural Practices and Irrigation for Food Security (GAPI4FS)’.

This week our colleague Simon van Meijeren together with Jean-Marie Michielsen (Wageningen Plant Research) visit Ziway area to identify the training needs at MBCU and local beneficiaries. Subsequently, the course material and a digital learning platform will be developed through which course material is made available. The training will be given in early March.

For more information you can contact our colleague Simon van Meijeren (mailto:Simon.vanMeijeren@acaciawater.com)