peasant irrigation development and food...

13
Peasant Irrigation Development and Food Production in Ethiopia Author(s): Helmut Kloos Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 157, No. 3 (Nov., 1991), pp. 295-306 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/635503 Accessed: 19/11/2010 09:06 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and Blackwell Publishing are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal. http://www.jstor.org

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Page 1: Peasant Irrigation Development and Food …mefcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Peasant-irrigation...Peasant Irrigation Development and Food Production in ... Peasant irrigation development

Peasant Irrigation Development and Food Production in EthiopiaAuthor(s): Helmut KloosSource: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 157, No. 3 (Nov., 1991), pp. 295-306Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute ofBritish Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/635503Accessed: 19/11/2010 09:06

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and Blackwell Publishing arecollaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

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The Geographical Journal, Vol. 157, November 1991, pp. 295-306

SMALL-SCALE PEASANT-BASED irrigat- ion development in relation to food production in Ethiopia is of interest in view of the recurrent

drought and famine conditions experienced by this country during the 1970s and 1980s and the high priority given by its Socialist government to boosting food production and achieving food self-sufficiency. These objectives have been specified in the Ten-Year Perspective Plan (1984/85-1993/94) (ONCCP, 1984). Emphasis was placed on co- operative farming, large-scale agriculture on state farms, and government pricing and marketing structures in achieving these objectives. Never- theless, the annual growth rate of the agricultural sector, which provides employment for about 90 per cent of the working population, declined from 3.3 per cent in 1953-1959 to 0.3 per cent in 1974-1980 (Robinson and Yamazaki, 1986), and the per capita food production declined by 6 per cent between 1974 and 1985 (FAO, 1985). Recurrent

0016-7398/91/0003-0295/$00 .20/0

famine, the civil war and the economic policy of the Socialist government have been major factors in this down trend (Cohen and Isaksson, 1988), with accelerated population growth (about 3.0 per cent in the late 1980s) and land degradation contributing to lower per capita production and consumption. Increased government control of agricultural pro- duction and marketing through the Agricultural Marketing Corporation's quotas, fixed crop prices and regulation of international trade and market places have been particularly strong disincentives for peasant production (Cohen and Isaksson, 1988; Franzel et al., 1989). In spite of increasing food imports in the 1980s, which were about 20 per cent of domestic production by 1988, per capita food availability declined over the decade from 82 per cent of the nutrition norm to 70 per cent (World Bank, 1990:7). Even when the country was rela- tively free offamine, as in 1977 and 1979, the daily per capita calorie supply was only about 1700

? 1991 The Royal Geographical Society

Peasant irrigation development and food production in Ethiopia

HELMUT KLOOS

Department of Geography, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 31609, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia This paper was acceptedfor publication in May 1991

This paper examines the development and constraints of small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia, and its role in food production, particularly since the 1984/85 famine. Although irrigated agriculture in Ethiopia probably predates the Axum empire, it is still unimportant in the densely populated highlands. The government-sponsored small-scale irrigation programme, although resulting in increased production in some producer cooperatives, has been plagued by civil war, the villagization and resettlement programmes, insecure land tenure, absence of adequate water-use legislation and, above all, lack of peasant interest in government-sponsored projects. A crop census by the Ministry of Agriculture in 1986/87 showed that the crops most commonly grown under irrigation in 1020 peasant associations and producer cooperatives were vegetables, the staples maize, potatoes and barley; fruits; the cash crops coffee and chat (Catha edulis); and sugar cane. Marked local and regional variations in cropping patterns were associated with market forces and prevailing agricultural systems. In order for significantly more Ethiopian peasants to use irrigation and to increase food production, it is imperative that peasants themselves play a central role in its development and operation, that greater land tenure security be achieved, that appropriate community-based irrigation organizations and government support structures be developed and a comprehensive water-use law is promulgated.

KEY WORDS: Ethiopia, irrigation, peasant agriculture, drought, food production, cooperative farming.

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296 IRRIGATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN ETHIOPIA

calories, the lowest in Africa (FAO, 1980). In

1980-1984, ten per cent of Ethiopian children

were classified as severely malnourished, with

an additional 60 per cent classified as mildly to

moderately malnourished (Grant, 1987).

Dissatisfied with the poor performance of the

economy, in 1988, the government of Mengistu

Haile Mariam indicated the need for policy changes

(Documents, 1988), and in March 1990 it proposed

a series of new policies toward a mixed economy

built on state, cooperative and private ownership.

One of the major aims of the proposed policy is to

assist and promote small-scale producers, and

encourage and strengthen the private sector in

general. A government workshop, held in October

1990, formulated draft policy plans for a national

irrigation policy and strategy (ONCCP, 1990), but

their implementation is not assured owing to the

collapse of the Mengistu government in May 1991

after heavy fighting with rebel forces. Cursory

reports indicate that small-scale irrigation devel-

opment in Ethiopia has been slow, in spite of a long

history of irrigation in this country that probably

pre-dates the Axum empire of more than 2000 years

ago (Simoons, 1960: 13; Fattovich, 1990). The poor

state of the economy and low investment by both

the government and private farmers, unsatisfactory

community participation in the operation of

schemes, and an unsuitable humid to subhumid

mountain environment have particularly been

implicated as constraints on irrigation development.

Rydzewski (1990) concluded that small-scale ir-

rigation, if properly implemented, can be more cost-

effective than large-scale projects in Africa. Large

commercial schemes in Ethiopia have increasingly

experienced financial deficits and ecological prob-

lems related to poor drainage, waterlogging and

salinization, which contributed to the decision

by the Ethiopian Valley Development Studies

Authority (1989:114) and FAO (1986:102) to

give greater emphasis to peasant-based irrigation projects in the future.

The objective of this paper is to examine the

development of small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia

with a view to better peasant food production. It

evaluates the potential for irrigation development,

examines the government-sponsored small-scale

irrigation programme, and analyses prevailing con- straints.

Potential for irrigation development: environmental considerations

Different estimates put the total irrigable area in

Ethiopia at 1.8-3.5 million hectares, of which only

about 140000 hectares were irrigated in 1989, with

about equal proportions under small-scale and

large-scale irrigation (Asfaw, 1990). In the high-

lands an estimated 165000-300000 hectares are

estimated to be irrigable using small-scale irrigation (Ministry of Agriculture, 1986). Much of the

Ethiopian highlands is well endowed with the basic

resources for agricultural development-good soils,

an amenable climate and considerable farming

skills-but they suffer from erratic rainfall. Eighty-

two per cent of the Ethiopian population live in the

highlands above an altitude of 1500 metres, where

sedentary agriculture has always prevailed (Kloos

and Adugna, 1989). Annual rainfall totals in the

higlhlands vary between 300 and 2200 millimetres

declining from the western to the eastern and

northern parts of the country, and are lowest in the

famine-prone regions of Wello, Tigray, Eritrea and

Hararghe (Fig 1). Three-quarters of the highland

region has a mean length of growing season of over

180 days, and all but two per cent has a length of

growing season of over 80 days. These relatively

high values are partly the result of the high clay

content of the predominantly volcanic vertisol soils,

which have a high water-holding capacity. The

potential for water storage and stream diversion for

irrigation is high, and the reasonably fertile and

workable soils are suitable for agriculture, but the

lengthy dry season limits the number of perennial

rivers and streams and the mountain topography

precludes irrigation in many areas (Hewett, 1986;

Hellden and Eklundh, 1988:10). It has been

estimated that small-scale irrigation could increase

agricultural production in Ethiopia by five per cent

at the most, although its potential contribution may

be significantly greater in more arid lowland areas

(FAO, 1986:98). According to Hewett (1986),

crop yields of different cereals and pulses may be

increased between 5 and 40 per cent under

irrigation. Ethiopian peasants use irrigation mainly to

supplement rain-fed agriculture. They are faced

with problems of both water surplus (during the

rainy season) and water deficiency (during the dry

season). Stream-flow regimes in different parts of

the country strongly reflect rainfall patterns. Where-

as perennial streams and rivers with discharge

sufficient for irrigation predominate in the high-

rainfall zone in the western, central and some

eastern highlands, and along the escarpment of the

Rift Valley (1200-2000 millimeters precipitation),

the longest low-flow periods are found in the

watercourses in the administrative regions of

Gondar, eastern Gojam, Wello, Tigray, Eritrea and

the lowlands of Hararghe, which also constitute the

traditional famine areas. In the Rift Valley and

other semi-arid lowland areas below 1600 metres

more than 90 per cent of all run-off occurs during

the main rainy season (June to September), leaving

many watercourses dry during much of the year

(Gebeyehu, 1988: 49). At lower elevations, where the climatic constraints

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IRRIGATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN ETHIOPIA 297

Fig. 1. The regions of Ethiopia

on crop production are most severe, the main concern of peasants is to produce a single crop with supplemental irrigation. In the cool highlands, by contrast, with their longer growing periods, a single main crop is usually assured, and there is scope for improving production by introducing double crop- ping (Hewett, 1986; Ethiopian Red Cross, 1986:70). Traditionally, farmers have grown drought-resist- ant crops such as millet and sorghum in more arid areas to cope with the vagaries of the weather, thus minimizing the need for irrigation (Wolde Semait, 1983). However, this strategy cannot always avert crop failure, as in 1984, when the length of the growing period (based on soil moisture availability) was only 92 days in Wello region, the area worst hit during that famine, rather than the average 241 days (Gamachu, 1988). Tigray and Hararghe had rainfall deviations similar to those in Wello (Hellden and Eklundh, 1988:49).

The total absence of precipitation in 1984 in

much of the northern, eastern and central regions of Ethiopia transformed the deteriorating situation into the 1984/85 famine (Jansson et al., 1987; Webb and von Braun, 1989). Using human morbidity and mortality as a yardstick, this was one of the most devastating famines world-wide during recent years (Kidane, 1988). There is considerable evidence that famines in Ethiopia have become more frequent, severe and widespread since the 1950s (Wolde Mariam, 1984). Degradation of the agricultural resource base, particularly through intensified land use of the ecologically fragile mountain slopes by the rapidly growing population, together with over- grazing, deforestation and soil erosion, has been partly responsible for the increasing vulnerability of the rural population to famine. The Ethiopian Highlands Reclamation Study (FAO, 1986:95), the most extensive land evaluation study ever carried out in the country, revealed that soil degradation is rendering increasing areas of the highlands more

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298 IRRIGATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN ETHIOPIA

susceptible to the effects of irregular and low rainfall

and unable to sustain the peasants farmers even in

years of normal precipitation. It concluded that

intensive agriculture, including irrigation, in ad- dition to land rehabilitation and resettlement of

peasants from the chronic famine areas, is essential

to assure food security for the growing population. As part of the progressive degradation of the

highlands, numerous springs and streams have

dried up in recent years (Gebre Egziabher, 1986),

but the effect on irrigated peasant agriculture has not been studied. It is conceivable that more arid

conditions will lead to increases in irrigated farming,

as noted in much of East Africa during droughts (Anderson and Johnson, 1988).

The view that the Ethiopian peasant is suffering

not primarily from lack of rainfall but from lack of

ability to use the agricultural potential (Mengistu, 1987) aptly summarizes the role of underdevelop-

ment in Mengistu's quest for food security. Brown

(1973) estimated that peasant food production could be tripled, and the environmental degradation

process slowed, by intensifying agriculture, con-

fining cultivation and animal husbandry to the

valley bottoms and leaving the slopes under forest.

This ecological relationship and the need for strong

support of peasant agriculture were not considered

by Haile Selassie's government, which instead

promoted large-scale irrigation development as part of an agricultural policy that emphasized com-

mercial agricultural and export crops. Commercial

production was also a major goal of Mengistu Haile

Mariam's government, although there is increasing evidence that small-scale irrigated agriculture is

more appropriate and cost-effective.

Irrigation development in the recent past

No statistics exist on the location, area, and cost

effectiveness of peasant irrigation in Ethiopia for the

period before 1984/85, when the Ministry of

Agriculture implemented the first government- sponsored small-scale irrigation programme. Even

most of the subsequent data are fragmentary and

unreliable. But Ethiopian peasants have shown a

great deal of initiative in developing irrigation schemes on their own, in various parts of the

country. During most of its history in Ethiopia,

irrigation was on a small scale, rudimentary and

mostly seasonal. Simple diversion of streams by rock

and earth dams was commonly practised in many

areas, and terracing with more elaborate water

conveyance systems was widely used in the tra-

ditional areas of extensive plough culture in the

northern highlands and in the areas of intensive hoe

culture in the south and south-west (Buxton, 1949;

Westphal, 1975). Along the Red Sea coast and in

the lower Awash valley, a simple form of basin-flood

irrigation still exists today, both among farmers and

agropastoralists. Flood-retreat irrigation, similar to

the wetland utilization systems elsewhere in tropical

Africa (Scudder, 1980; Richards, 1983), continues

to be used by various groups in the eastern, southern

and western lowlands (Carr, 1977; Kloos, 1977;

Turton, 1985). Irrigated agriculture has tradition-

ally served as a safety net for various pastoralist groups in East Africa (Anderson, 1988) and

Ethiopia (Kloos, 1982) during times of drought. Modern commercial irrigation schemes, mostly on

coffee plantations, began to appear in Ethiopia

around the turn of the century, and on cotton and

fruit farms between the 1940s and 1970s (Wolde Emanuel, 1964; Pankhurst, 1968:201). Their

development history in Ethiopia is vastly different from that of the smallholder schemes and thus

beyond the scope of this paper. The 1984/85 famine provided a major stimulus

for the development of the government-sponsored small-scale irrigation programme in areas affectively

controlled by the central government, and especially in communities where producer cooperatives had

been established. Peasant agriculture had hitherto

been neglected by the government, both before and

after the revolution. The Ten-Year Plan, prepared during the famine, called for the development of

57000 hectares for small-scale irrigation in private and cooperative farms by 1993/94. This expansion

of small-scale irrigation is consistent with the trend

in the whole of Africa, away from large commercial

schemes, caused by increasing concern over an

impending ecological crisis and declines in peasant food production (Timberlake, 1985:87; Lambert, 1986).

The short-term objectives of the programme include increased production through double-crop-

ping and supplementary irrigation during the dry

season, increase in domestic water supplies and

peasant income, and rehabilitation or replacement of traditional irrigation schemes with more modern

systems. In the long term, Ethiopia's food problem is expected to be ameliorated, and rural devel-

opment to be facilitated through hydro-electric development, small-scale industries, employment generation and land rehabilitation (Ministry of

Agriculture, 1985). Another objective, that of

developing producer cooperatives, is unlikely to be

pursued in the future, because of the recent changes

in economic policy and the poor record of producer cooperatives, further discussed below. The pro-

gramme is being implemented by regional and

awraja (district) offices of the Ministry of Agri-

culture, mobile construction brigades, and the

labour provided by peasant associations and co-

operatives. Both ministerial and party offices nation-

wide were given orders to encourage peasants to

develop local water resources for food production, with government assistance. The criteria used for

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IRRIGATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN ETHIOPIA 299

TABLE I Number offarmers using small-scale irrigation and areas irrigated in 1985, by administrative region

Farmers using irrigation %? of all farmers

Number in the region % land area under

irrigation

0.057 0.036 0.011 0.093 0.092 0.034 0.086

0.098 0.016 0.038 0.053

Administrative region

Hararghe Bale Sidamo Gamo Gofa Shewa Arsi Wello Gojam Wellega Gondar Illubabor Keffa Tigray Eritrea

Total

Source: FAO (1986).

Irrigated area (ha) 14910 4606 1322 3711 7913 819

6593

6977 1223 1813 2912

84291 8623 2105 5658

42609 1376

26218

33175 6711

10700 9823

23 8 3 3 4 6 5

no data 13 2 7 3

no data no data

213289 52799

selecting localities for this programme specified that

they receive between 300 and 1200 millimetres of rainfall annually, are located in densely populated areas between 1500-2300 metres and have slopes of three per cent or less (Ministry of Agriculture, 1985). In 1985, a total of 213 000 farmers irrigated an estimated 53000-62000 hectares in peasant associations and 16000 hectares in cooperative farms (Table I; WRDA, 1985). According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture, 30 per cent of the total peasant irrigated area, including rehabilitated traditional systems, was developed by the Ministry of Agriculture after the 1984/85 famine

(Eshete, 1990). However, an inventory of schemes in operation in 1988 revealed that only 2350 hectares were irrigated on 37 schemes developed by the

Ministry of Agriculture (Ministry of Agriculture, 1988).

More than two-thirds of the total irrigated area and nearly 90 per cent of the farmers using irrigation in 1985 were in Hararghe, Wello, Wellega and Shewa regions. Twenty-three per cent of all farmers in Hararghe, 13 per cent in Wellega, 7 per cent in Illubabor, 5 per cent in Wello and 4 per cent in Shewa used irrigation (Table I). No data are available for Tigray and Eritrea, although it is known that 71 of the 114 earth dams constructed between 1981 and 1989 were in these two regions (Ministry of Agriculture, 1989). Spate irrigation using small dams rather than diversion from streams is common in these two regions, where many streams are now seasonal. The low proportion of farmers irrigating in Wello, Sidamo and Gamo Gofa (3 per cent in each), all famine-prone areas, and the larger proportions in the humid regions of Wellega and Illubabor indicate maldistribution. The high cost of earth dams (about $500 per hectare) and their small net contribution to agri-

cultural output, caused by their location in areas that were at least partially cropped earlier, and the

high sedimentation rates as a result of excessive erosion in the denuded catchments, has put their usefulness into question. They can be justified mostly in human and social terms, particularly in more arid, agriculturally marginal areas at lower

elevations, where they may contribute to famine relief and rehabilitation efforts (FAO, 1986:102). But an expansion of irrigation into the lowlands, which can be expected to take place as a result of accelerated down-slope movement of the Ethiopian population (Kloos and Adugna, 1989), may also exacerbate existing conflicts over land use between

indigenous populations and settlers from the high- lands. In the past lowland pastoralists and shifting cultivators were seldom included equitably in the

development process, leading to their economic peripheralization and armed conflict (Kloos, 1982; Rahmato, 1988).

In 1986/87 the Ministry of Agriculture carried out a national survey of crops cultivated under small-scale irrigation. Reasonably comprehensive and accurate data could be obtained only for Hararghe, Shewa and Wello regions, and the results on crop yields are unreliable. In the 1020 peasant associations and producer cooperatives in Hararghe, Shewa, Wello and Gamo Gofa for which cropping data could be collected, vegetables were the most widely cultivated crops, followed by maize, potatoes, fruits and coffee (Table II). Some crops were highly concentrated at the awraja or regional levels, reflecting the influence of culturally-linked agri- cultural systems and associated food preferences and use of stimulants. Coffee, chat (Catha edulis), sweet potatoes and sorghum were cultivated mostly in Hararghe; the cereals wheat, barley and teff (Eragrostis teff), various pulses and gesho (Rhamnus

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IRRIGATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN ETHIOPIA 300

prinoides, used in Ethiopian peasant beer) mostly in Shewa and Wello; and tobacco only in Yifatna

Timuga Awraja in Shewa. Cultivation of the stimulant chat in many peasant associations in

Shewa, Wello and Gamo Gofa, which was not

reported by Getahun and Krikorian (1973), indi- cates its rapid spread in Ethiopia. Use of irrigation (Westphal, 1975:117) and the greater price stability of chat than coffee have been major factors in this

expansion. The relatively small number of localities irrigating

tefin Shewa, where it is the predominant grain, and in Wello, where it is nearly as important as barley and sorghum, appears to be largely caused by its short growing period. Teff is a short-cycle crop, which matures in 3-4 months during the big rains. Maize and sorghum, irrigated more widely in all

study areas, require 8-9 months for maturation. Normally planted during the unreliable small rains

(February to March), maize and sorghum require supplementary irrigation.

Urban/rural differences in cropping patterns were associated with local diets and the role of domestic and foreign markets. Harar Zuria Awraja, with its large regional and foreign markets in Harar town, was the only area to cultivate lettuce, and was the largest producer of nearly all other vegetables, root crops, chat, sugar cane and fruits. The cultivation, in and around Harar town, of a wide

variety of fruits and vegetables which are rarely grown in other parts of Ethiopia, and which includes

bahiro, opes, kurumba, amberudi, geshita,fajule, keruniba, abashok, kigare and baloke, reflects the long Arab influence on Harar. Chat, also associated with the

highlands around Harar, is widely consumed by the local Somali, Oromo, and Harari populations, and is transported several times a week from Dire Dawa

by aircraft to Djibouti and Yemen, and by car and camel to Somalia. Coffee, marketed by the Ethio-

pian Coffee Board rather than by peasant associ- ations or producer cooperatives, showed no urban influence in its distribution.

Although strictly comparable cropping data from the pre-revolution period are not available, the

great variety of food crops found to be irrigated in

Hararghe, and the predominance of vegetables, maize and potatoes, indicate major changes since the 1950s, when coffee and fruits were apparently the major irrigated crops (Brooke, 1956). A greater emphasis on food staples in recent years may be the result of greater population pressure, although this

point requires further study. These cropping pat- terns contrast with those in the large commercial irrigation schemes, where maize and vegetable production is declining and fruit production is

increasing, because of the greater profitability of the latter (Endamalaw, 1990:36).

Information on areas devoted to different crops is

TABLE II

Crops grown under irrigation by 1020 peasant associations and producer cooperatives in Hararghe, Shewa, Wello and Gamo Gofa administrative regions in 1986/87 (1980 Ethiopian calendar)

Wello

(357 peasant associations)

179 (9) 96 (9) 25 (6) 44 (7) 37 (8) 29 (6) 30 (4)

4(2) 7 (3)

18(3) 11 (4) 10(4) 14(4) 11 (3) o 2(1) 6 (3) o 3 (1) 3(2) 0 0 0

Hararghe (394 peasant associations)

238 (8) 110(7) 129 (4) 90 (8) 82 (8) 82 (7)

7(1) 60 (6) 70 (5) 8(2)

34 (6) 21 (6) 4(1) 0 0 1 (1) 0(1) 5(1) 1 (1)

2 (2) 0 0 0

Shewa (260 peasant associations)

182 (8) 85 (8) 68 (7) 34 (6) 4(3) 1 (5)

54 (2) 21 (7)

7 (2) 34 (4) 10 (2) 18(4) 19(3) 9 (2)

14(1) 1 (1) 3 (2) 1 (1) 1 (1) 0 0 1 (1) 1 (1)

Gamo Gofa (9 Total peasant assoc.) (n = 1020)

9(2) 9(2) 2 (1) 6(2) 6(1) 1 (1) 0o (1) 0 1 (1) 0 2 (2) 0 0 0 0 7 (2) 0 0 0 0 1 (1) 0 0

608 (27) 300 (27) 220 (18) 174 (23) 139 (20) 123 (19) 91 (7) 85 (15) 85 (11) 60 (9) 57 (16) 54 (14) 37 (8) 20 (5) 14 (1) 11 (2) 9(5) 6(2) 5 (7) 5(4)

1 (1) 1 (1) 1 (1)

Vegetables Maize Potatoes Fruit Sweet potatoes Coffee Barley Sugar cane Chat Wheat Sorghum Pulses reg Gesho Tobacco Cotton Fenugreek Sesame Groundnuts Oats Tree seedlings Fishing Irrigated pasture

.hote: For each region the first column represents the number of peasant associations growing the crop. The figure in brackets

indicates the number of awrajas, studied in each region, growing the crop. Source: Unpublished data of the Irrigation Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Addis Ababa.

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IRRIGATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN ETHIOPIA 301

limited to Hararghe Region. In general, individual peasant associations and producer cooperatives cultivated larger areas of chat (up to 26 hectares) than of sweet potatoes, sorghum, maize, potatoes and coffee (all between 0.5 and 25 hectares). Grain and root crop areas were generally only slightly larger than those for fruits and vegetables, indicating the relatively large scale of these fruit and vegetable enterprises. Management capability, peasant in- itiative and government support appear to be the major factors deciding the size of irrigated areas and the profitability of schemes. In one producer cooperative in Bale Region, for example, 100 hectares were developed for irrigation with heavy government inputs, but the 40 cooperative mem- bers, all settlers from Wello Region, were unable to cultivate this large area because of lack of labour and working capital (Kassa, 1990). Another pro- ducer cooperative, in southern Shewa, earned 208000 Birr ($100000) from the scale of vegetables grown by 170 members on 17 hectares. These local farmers gradually expanded the irrigated area from 20 hectares in 1979 to 260 hectares in 1989, mostly with their own inputs (Editorial, 1989). Commonly, a few members of local producer cooperatives held larger tracts of irrigable land than the area (usually 0.1 to 0.5 hectares) allocated to individual house- holds, although many of them lacked sufficient interest or ability to cultivate them.

The hastily planned, emergency small-scale ir- rigation programme has promoted conflicts among water users in the absence of comprehensive water legislation, and has increased the risk of ecological upsets. The customary water legislation in force in the Ethiopian highlands dates back to the venerated Fetha :Vagast (The Law of Kings) and is contained in the Civil Code of 1960, which does not cover the broad range of water usage, pollution and con- servation problems arising out of agricultural, urban and industrial water use (Strauss, 1968; Akama, 1987). Moreover, most provisions of the 1960 Civil Code which deal with ownership and use of water have become obsolete since the revolution (Akama, 1987:52). The draft water legislation under dis- cussion in 1990 is intended to regulate all forms of water use (Lema, 1990). The uncontrolled peasant irrigation development since 1984 has also drawn heavy criticism from officials of the major govern- mental water development agencies, who warned of increasing erosion as a result of the clearance of natural vegetation along watercourses and to inadequate off-take structures; flooding, water- logging and salinization as a result of poor drainage and water management; and a decrease of water supplies for downstream and lowland users, in- cluding mechanized farms (WRDA, 1985). The recent decline in the level of Lake Zway, a shallow, productive lake in the Rift Valley, supporting a

thriving Tilapia enterprise run by local fishing cooperatives, has been linked with the development of 1000 hectares of land using irrigation by 12 peasant associations along the tributary Meki River. The same problem has also been identified in Lake Abaya, another productive lake (Editorial, 1985; Foerch, 1988).

Constraints on irrigation development Little is known about specific constraints on peasant irrigation in the pre-revolution era. The scattered remains of abandoned terraces and irrigation works in northern (Simoons, 1960; Stitz, 1974) and southern Ethiopia (Huffnagel, 1961). indicate that peasant irrigation declined in some areas during historic times. The traditional land tenure system in the Ethiopian highlands, by hampering production, peasant initiative and rural development in general (Cohen and Weintraub, 1975; Wolde Aregay, 1986), clearly impeded irrigation development. Numerous technical reports by Aid organizations and the Ministry of Agriculture confirm this, and also the related constraints of nutritional deficiency, work patterns and outmigration (McCann, 1988). The impact of the civil war on irrigated agriculture has increased since the revolution, particularly in Eritrea and Tigray. The high labour requirements of terrace cultivation, maintenance and repair, together with poor accessibility and insecurity in the northern war zone, as well as the low potential for mechanization and the emigration of rural labour from famine areas, are instrumental in agricultural disruption and terrace abandonment (Gebre Egziabher, 1986; McCann, 1989). This is also borne out by the sharp increase in soil erosion on abandoned terraces, and concomitant declines in the agricultural area and production, in areas of outmigration in Yemen (Vogel, 1986).

Implementation of the government-sponsored irrigation programme has been uneven, and beset by numerous difficulties in all administrative re- gions. Almost all the irrigation farms developed by the Ministry of Agriculture failed to reach organi- zational and production targets, largely because of insecurity of tenure, and also the disenchantment of peasants with cooperative farming (Gessesse, 1990). Continuing land fragmentation and reduction in farm size since the 1975 land reform have been major factors in the reappearance of insecure tenure (Gebre Kiros, 1980; Grova, 1989). Insecure land tenure has discouraged peasant investment of labour and capital in irrigated agriculture. Since 1975, the villagization programme and the establishment of producer cooperatives have been instrumental in land distribution patterns. Producer cooperatives, which represented only two per cent of all peasants in Ethiopia in 1987 (Brine, 1990), have been favoured over private farmers by the service

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The national villagization programme, begun in 1985, also impaired the development of peasant irrigation in many communities. Fifty-nine per cent of the rural population had been moved to villages by 1987/88. Irrigation declined in spite of the better access from the new villages to river bottom land, irrigation water, transportation and markets, and the congregation of farmers in larger nucleated villages. Not only did villagization result in fewer and smaller vegetable gardens, and fewer chat and fruit trees around houses, (Lirenso, 1989:35) but also in the abandonment of irrigated land in the old settlement areas (Kloos et al., 1990).

Lack of market incentives were found to be the result of both low crop prices and lack of co- ordination in production among farmers, and their market information systems often resulted in over- supply and undersupply of perishable vegetables and fruit during the harvest and off-season, re- spectively, with corresponding price fluctuations. Lack of storage and transport facilities exacerbated this situation

(Gessesse, 1990). The food-for-work programme in Ethiopia, the second largest in the world, dates back to the early 1960s and involved more than 50 multinational, bilateral, international and non-governmental or- ganizations in 1989. Spearheaded by the World Food Programme, it has been instrumental in the development of water resources and conservation programmes. The food-for-work programme con- stitutes an integral part of the Ethiopian Highlands Reclamation Project of the Ministry of Agriculture. The World Food Programme alone, which allocated $40

million in 1985 and $76 million in 1989, supported the construction of 600000 kilometres of soil and stone bunds, 470000 kilometres of hillside terraces in

afrorested areas, thousands of check dams in eroded gullies and hundreds of stream diversions. Nevertheless, recent evaluation of the various programmes revealed that most of them had little impact on farmers, and that their sustainability is uncertain in view of planning, implementation and operational difficulties, confusion and am- biguities over user rights, and lack of tenure security (Hurni, 1986; Beckett-Brown, 1989). Critics of the Highlands Reclamation ProJect point out that more drastic changes are needed in the agricultural system than the mere construction of conservation structures using the top-down approach, namely community-level changes that lead to agricultural intensification (Ege, 1989). Nevertheless, chronic shortages of funds, building materials

(especially cement and steel) and skilled manpower have impaired the development of irrigation systems. Only 38 per cent of the 31470 quintals of cement and 21 per cent of the 21.1 million

Birr requested by the Ministry of Agri- culture's Irrigation Development Department in

cooperatives with regard to the allocation of land, fertilizer, improved seeds and credit. Similarly, only farmers organized in producer cooperatives and service cooperatives with legal status could obtain credit from the Agricultural and Industrial Develop- ment Bank, a major donor of small-scale irrigation development in Ethiopia (Gessesse, 1990).

In spite of the government's drive towards cooperative farming since 1979, production from producer cooperatives has been less than that of private farms; they have an unfavourable public image, and most peasants have tried to avoid becoming members (Bruine, 1990). Practically all of the more than 300 producer cooperatives disin- tegrated after the government's call, in 1990, for a mixed economy. Although membership was vol- untary, producer cooperatives used fertilizer, seeds, mechanization, training opportunities and, after 1984, irrigation to pressure peasants to join, only to increase their resistance, and as a result also poor agricultural performance (Pausewang, 1990). This situation has promoted attitudes of using the land for immediate benefits only, militating against necessary investment of labour and material re- sources for earth dams, terraces and other irrigation works (Storck, 1988; Gessesse, 1990). That long- term security of tenure is a solution to this problem is revealed in a recent study of environmental rehabilitation in the northern Ethiopian highlands, where only those farmers who enjoyed security of landholding or land use displayed both the willing- ness to invest in renewal with little or no outside aid (Stahl, 1990). Another problem of the small-scale irrigation programme was the failure to consult peasants in the project planning phase, and designs were based on the perspective of the engineer, further contributing to peasant non-involvement (Gessesse, 1990). The top-down approach, which has failed to generate necessary community par- ticipation, self-reliance and local decision-making in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa, has increasingly been criticized. Quests for a more promising participatory approach, which may lead to sus- tained rural development, culminated in the Arusha International Conference on Popular Participation in the Recovery and Development Process in Africa in March 1990, and in a follow-up workshop in Addis Ababa (ECA and FAO, 1990). Implemen- tation of this approach in Ethiopia would be difficult in view of deeply entrenched top-down, corporate and paternalistic attitudes in rural development programmes. However, the potential for local initiative and participatption is promising in view of the keen awareness of peasants of the benefits from irrigation, their willingness to contribute labour and funds to the construction and maintenance of systems, and their ability to manage them suc- cessfully (Ministry of Agriculture, 1988).

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government assistance (except for technical assis- tance);

3 to raise funds to finance on-farm works and operational expenses; and

4 to disburse credit from donor agencies (Gessesse, 1990).

Their success will depend to a great degree on the government's ability to provide the necessary incentives for irrigation development and other intensified agricultural activities, by encouraging local initiative, local effort and local savings for investment in irrigated agriculture and com- munity-development projects.

Conclusion Small-scale irrigation has a long history in Ethiopia, but has remained relatively unimportant in food production in most areas. Nevertheless, there is considerable peasant knowledge, experience and interest surrounding irrigated agriculture that has not been considered by recent programmes. Al- though the government-sponsored small-scale ir- rigation programme has increased food production in some localities, irrigated agriculture has been disrupted and irrigation works have deteriorated in the wake of the villagization and cooperative programmes, the famine and the civil war. At present the peasant associations and producer cooperatives are in a state of disarray. A demoralized peasantry is increasingly leaving the newly es- tablished communal villages for their former private homesteads and food production continues to decrease. Thus agriculture in Ethiopia is experi- encing a state of deterioration identified in other Socialist countries in Africa, particularly Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola, in all of which the government failed to capture the interest and labour of an alienated peasantry in its quest for production increase and the reduction of mounting food imports and foreign exchange deficits (Gallie, 1987: Lofchie, 1988). The major challenge of agricultural de- velopment in Ethiopia is not a choice between a free economy and Socialist restructuring, but to develop sensitive policies, which are supportive and not disruptive of peasant production processes and efforts. The government's attempts to stimulate food production by extending its own control over the peasantry and imposing an irrigation pro- gramme have been largely ineffective and even counterproductive. They contributed to increased food insecurity, famine vulnerability and agricul- tural involution characterized by a tendency of peasants to turn inward and to be overly concerned with survival rather than accumulation, the ex- change process and innovative behaviour (Brune, 1990).

It will take time before Ethiopian peasants develop sufficient confidence and trust in govern-

1989/90 were released by the Finance Department, and the proportion of the annually requested budget and materials that were released declined between 1978/88 and 1989/90. The chronic shortages of funds, skilled manpower and mechanized equip- ment are unlikely to be alleviated in the near future, and would render the implication of capital- intensive projects more difficult. Various advanced agricultural inputs, particularly chemical fertilizer, have in fact been rejected by peasants in some communities, because of their high cost and scarcity (Mulugeta, 1989). It is unlikely, at least in the short term, that the government's revised economic policy, which emphasizes the need to raise the productivity of the peasant sector through effective utilization of traditional technology familiar to the peasants (Documents, 1988:50), will lead to simple construction designs, use of locally available mater- ials and manpower, and operational activities that are both comprehensible to peasants and cost effective.

Non-government organizations have, in general, had a stimulating effect on small-scale irrigation development since the 1984/85 famine, when they began to transform themselves from relief organi- zations into development institutions, with most of them including water resources development in their programmes. They have at their disposal larger budgets than Ethiopian government insti- tutions, and they operate mostly independently of government bureaucracy (Teka, 1989). However, the sustaining or irrigation systems is seldom possible after they are turned over to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, because of (among other drawbacks) lack of fuel, spare parts, budgets sufficient for operation and maintenance, and interest of peasants in cooperative farming.

In 1990 the Ministry of Agriculture recommended the establishment of water users' associations, with a maximum of self-initiative and peasant par- ticipation, as part of an effort to develop a community-based infrastructure that promotes, implements and regulates more viable irrigated farms. Community-based institutions dealing with irrigation have existed traditionally in many parts of Ethiopia. They were responsible for the con- struction and maintenance of stream diversions, dams and canals, the equitable distribution of water among members, and the settling of disputes related to the allocation and use of water (Ministry of Agriculture, 1988). Peasant associations have in- herited or replaced most of these institutions. Four added functions of the proposed users' associations would be: 1 to serve as a bridge between extension staff and

individual farmers; 2 to develop irrigation farms independent of

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ment-sponsored programmes, including the small- scale irrigation programme. The success of this

programme, in contributing to food security on a sustained basis, will depend to a large degree on: 1 the development of water users' associations and

government support structures that better meet the needs of peasants and better facilitate their

participation than the now defunct producer cooperatives;

2 the appropriate mix of farmer initiatives and

government support structures; 3 greater security of land tenure; and 4 formulation of a comprehensive water law. The wide range of problems impinging on small- scale irrigation development also require that it be more vigorously pursued as part of integrated rural

development (Cohen, 1987). The proven ability of the Ethiopian peasants to organize themselves and to manage irrigation systems in the long term, and their willingness to provide the necessary inputs suggest that they should play a central role in irrigation development, with government support

confined to technical advice and training in areas identified by the peasants themselves. In terms of the suitability of local environments and socio- economic situations for irrigation development and returns to public investment and expenditure, the

greatest benefits may be obtained by giving top priority to increasing irrigation efficiency and food

production in existing or new peasant-initiated schemes, and the lowest priority to schemes con- structed and operated by the government.

Acknowledgements The author is grateful to Mr Habtamu Gessesse of the Irrigation Development Department of the

Ministry of Agriculture, Addis Ababa, for making available the small-scale irrigation statistics; to Mr Akalu Meshasha of the Water Resources Devel-

opment Authority, Mr Paavo Farm of the Lutheran World Federation and Mr Gregory D. Bellas of Africare for useful discussions; and to the De- partment of Geography of Addis Ababa University for technical support.

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