INTRODUCTION

The Government of Ethiopia formulated, with the support and wide consultation with
many development partners and stakeholders ;from them Irrigation Development is one
of the very important for a countries economy development; Government of Ethiopia Focus
on irrigation after a few year to develop irrigation in Ethiopia. For this development
Government Supply many Irrigation material for Farmer like , Water motor Pump, Wheat,
Fertilizer, Pesticide, Capacity development by Training for expert and Beneficiaries etc.
Therefore Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa (Awulachew et al. 2005).
According to the:-
Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia projection (CSA 2005) from the 1994 census, the total
projected population in Ethiopia for 2006 was estimated to be 75,067,000, about 85 percent
of which lives in the rural areas depending on subsistence agriculture.
Ethiopia covers a land area of 1.13 million km2, of which 99.3 percent is a land area and the
remaining 0.7 percent is covered with water bodies of lakes (MOWR 2002). It has an arable
land area of 10.01 percent and permanent crops covered 0.65 percent while others covered
89.34 percent.
According to the World Bank, the per capita income in 2005 was $160 per year. The
agricultural sector is the leading sector in the Ethiopian economy, 47.7 percent of the total
GDP, as compared to 13.3 percent from industry and 39 percent from services (World Bank
2005).
Though agriculture is the dominant sector, most of Ethiopia’s cultivated land is under rain
fed agriculture.
Due to lack of water storage and large spatial and temporal variations in rain fall ,there
is not enough water for most farmers to produce more than one crop per year and hence
there are frequent crop failures due to dry spells and droughts which has resulted in a
chronic food shortage currently facing the country.
Ethiopia has an extremely varied topography the complex geological history that began
millions of years ago and continues, accentuates the unevenness of the surface; a highland
complex of mountains and bisected plateau characterizes the landscape. Interspersed with
the landscape are higher mountain ranges and cratered cones. According to some estimates
about 50 percent of African mountains, about 371,432 km2 above 2,000 meters, are
confined within Ethiopia (FAO1984). Altitude ranges from 126 meters below sea level in the
Dalol Depression on the northern border, to the highest mountain, Ras Dashen in the
Semien Mountains north of Lake Tana rising
to 4,620 m.a.s.l. The plateau in the northern half of the country is bisected by the Ethiopian
Rift Valley, which runs more than 600 km north–northeast of the Kenyan border to the Koka
Dam on 2 the Awash River south of Addis Ababa. The rift then descends to the northeast and
its lateral escarpments begin to diverge from each other crossing the Afar Depression
towards the Red Sea coast.

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Based on Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC data), we have derived
climatologically data.
Accordingly, the mean annual rainfall is 812.4 mm, with a minimum of 91 mm and a
maximum of 2,122 mm; with a highest rainfall ranging from 1,600–2,122 in the highlands of
the western part of the country, and a lowest rainfall from 91-600 mm in the eastern
lowlands of the country. The mean annual temperature is 22.2 degrees celcius. The lowest
temperature ranges from 4-15 degrees Celsius in the highlands, and the highest mean
temperature is 31 degree Celsius in the lowlands at the Danakil Depression. Figure 1 shows
the annual average precipitation and temperature in Ethiopia (derived from globally
gridded monthly precipitation data sets for the period 1951 to 2000, based on GPCC data).
In Ethiopia, the major problems associated with the generation of reliable data and
information on water resources management consists of a lack of consolidated strategy,
including institutional linkages, processes of collection, storage, analysis, and dissemination.
A clear example of this is the lack of consistent and reliable figures on irrigated agriculture
from various sources in Ethiopia.
Recognizing this fact and in an effort to contribute to the knowledge base of the water sector
of the country, IWMI (together with other partners) has conducted a survey on existing
small, medium and large-scale irrigation developments in Ethiopia and created a database
in Geographic Information System (GIS).
The creation of this database on irrigation and drainage is the first of its kind in
putting together the existing data in an organized manner and make it available for end
users.
The database contains spatial data of river basins, river networks and existing irrigation
schemes (small, medium and large-scale) in each administrative region of Ethiopia; and the
potential that can be realistically irrigated in each river basin. Although the already
developed database is a very useful output, it is considered as an evolving working
document which will be updated from time to time as additional information and recent
developments emerge.
The accompanying sections therefore discuss the general water resources information of
Ethiopia and specifically discuss the potential and development of irrigation identified by
regions and basins as well as aggregate values at national level.
As much as possible, the irrigation potential and development are geo-referenced
and mapped in GIS environment.
The resulting Geospatial Database, maps and Microsoft Access database, which are already
shared with regional government bureaus and federal ministries, can provide invaluable
and harmonious information systems that can be updated from time to time, as new
schemes are put in place.

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 WATER RESOURCES

Surface Water Resources: River Basins

The country has 12 river basins. The total mean annual flow from all the 12 river basins is
estimated to be 122 BMC (MoWR 1999); This could be further refined when data on recent
master plan studies becomes available.
At present, surface water and meteorological data are collected and processed on a regular
basis through existing hydro-meteorological networks.
The idea of a river basin, despite its physical or natural attributes, is more than an
engineering concept and encompasses the magnitude and dynamics of a resource that must
be harnessed for the common good (Molle 2006). It has often been advocated that the most
logical unit for water resources planning and optimum utilization of available water
resources is the river basin.
Accordingly, it is desirable that all major river basins in Ethiopia have an integrated
development master plan study, and their potential in terms of economic development be
known. The salient features of the water resources development potential of all the river
basins.

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 Table Irrigation and hydropower potential of river basins.
Runo Gross Estimated
River Basin Area ff Potential Hydro- ground
(Bm3 electric water
(Km2) ) Irrigable Land potential potential
(ha) Gwh/year (Bm3)
Tekeze 82,350 *** 8.2 83,368 5,980 0.20
Abbay 199,812 54.8 815,581 78,820 1.80
Baro-Akobo 75,912 23.6 1,019,523 13,765 0.28
0.13Rechar
ge/year
Omo-Ghibe 79,000 16.6 67,928 36,560 0.42
(.10)Rech /
yr
Rift Valley 52,739 5.6 139,300 * 800 0.10
Mereb 5,900 *** 0.65 67,560 - 0.05
Afar /Denakil 74,002 **** 0.86 158,776 - -
Awash 112,696 4.9 134,121 4,470 0.14
Aysha 2,223 **** - - -
Ogaden 77,121 **** - - -
Wabi-
Shebelle* 202,697 ** 3.16 237,905 5,440 0.07
Genale-Dawa 171,042 ** 5.88 1,074,720 9,270 0.14

Total 1,135,494 124.25 3,798,782 155,102 2.86

Source: Integrated River Basin Master Plan Studies, carried out during 1997-2007 (MoWR 1996,
1997, 1998a, 1998b) Irrigable land from the IWMI irrigation database (based on – MoWR
data).
* Figures need to be updated from recent studies.
* Small-scale is not included in the database, medium and large-scale is 49,700 ha.
* Indicates the Ethiopian part of the basin area. The total basin area is 23, 932 ha.
* Reconnaissance study

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 Surface Water Resources:

1.Lakes, River and Reservoirs

Ethiopia has 11 fresh and 9 saline lakes, 4 crater lakes and over 12 major swamps or
wetlands.
Majority of the lakes are found in the Rift Valley Basin. provides information for 19 main
natural lakes and reservoirs (MCE 2001); see also The total surface area of these natural and
artificial lakes in Ethiopia is about 7,500 km2. The majority of Ethiopian lakes are rich in
fish.
Most of the lakes except Ziway, Tana, Langano, Abbey and Chemo have no surface water out
lets, i.e., they are endhoric. Lakes Shala and Abiyata have high concentrations of chemicals
and Abiyata is currently exploited for production of soda ash.

2.Groundwater Resources System

As compared to surface water resources, Ethiopia has lower ground water potential.
However, by many countries’ standard the total exploitable groundwater potential is high.
Based on the scanty knowledge available on groundwater resources, the potential is
estimated to be about 2.6
BMC (Billion Metric Cube) annually rechargeable resource ;which provides a little higher
value. 13.2 billion m3 infiltrates into the groundwater system of which 50 percent could be
extractable.
IRRIGATION POTENTIAL IN RIVER BASINS OF ETHIOPIA
Summary of Potential
In Ethiopia, under the prevalent rain fed agricultural production system, the progressive
degradation of the natural resource base, especially in highly vulnerable areas of the
highlands coupled with climate variability have aggravated the incidence of poverty and
food insecurity. Water resources management for agriculture includes both support for
sustainable production in rain-fed agriculture and irrigation (Awulachew et al. 2005). Not
overlooked should be soil protection and maintaining soil fertility.
Currently, the MoWR (Ministry of Water Resources) has identified 560 irrigation potential
sites on the major river basins. The total potential irrigable land in Ethiopia is estimated to
be around 3.7 million hectares.

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 Table Irrigation Potential in the River Basins of Ethiopia.
Irrigation potentials
Basin Catchment (Ha) Irrigation Potential
(Respective recent master plan
Area (Km2) studies) (WAPCOS 1995)

Small- Medium- Large- Total Total Irrigable Percent

scale scale scale Drainage Area Irrigable
Area (Ha) Area of
2
(km ) the Country

45,85
Abbay 198,890.7 6 130,395 639,330 815,581 201,346 1,001,000 27
Tekeze 83,475.94 N/A N/A 83,368 83,368 90,001 3,17,000 8.5
Baro-Akobo 76,203.12 N/A N/A 1,019,523 1,019,523 74,102 9,85,000 26.5
Omo-Ghibe 79,000 N/A 10,028 57,900 67,928 78,213 4,45,000 12
Rift Valley 52,739 N/A 4000 45,700 139,300 52,739 1,39,000 3.7
30,55
Awash 110,439.3 6 24,500 79,065 134,121 112,697 2,05,000 5.5
Genale Dawa 172,133 1,805 28,415 1,044,500 1,074,720 117,042 4,23,000 11.4
10,75
Wabi Shebele 202,219.5 5 55,950 171,200 237,905 102,697 200,000 5.4
Denakil 63,852.97 2,309 45,656 110,811 158,776 74,102 - -
Ogaden 77,121 - 77,121 - -
Ayisha 2,000 - 2,000 - -
(Gulf of
Aden)
Total 1,118,074.53 3,731,222 982,060 3,715,000 100

Ethiopia is one of the top-performing economies in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) as the country
has been able to register an average growth rate of more than 10% over the past decades.
Wheat is one of the strategic crops in Ethiopia, because of its role for food security, import
substitution and supply of raw material for agro-processing industry. Ethiopia is the third
largest wheat producing country in Africa.
Wheat is one of the major cereal crops produced by 4.6 million smallholder farmers on 1.8
million hectares of land with an estimated annual production of 5.0 million tons at an
average productivity of 2.8 t/ha which has been consistently increasing for the last 25 years,
but much lower than the world average 3.3 t/ha. Despite the recent production increment,
Ethiopia falls short of being self-sufficient in wheat production, and continually remains a
net importer of about 1.7 million tons of wheat, draining the national treasury.

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Wheat consumption, production & import, 1961-2019

The demand for wheat in Ethiopia is growing faster than for any other food crop, par-
ticularly in urban areas. The gap between demand and supply is widening because of rapidly
increasing population, changing preferences towards wheat-based food items, and
precarious wheat yield resulting from climate change and its consequent adversities such as
drought, diseases and insect pests. Nevertheless, while consumption is increasing at the rate
of 9.0% per annum the local production is increasing at only 7.8% making the demand to
outstrip the supply.
Prospects for Wheat Self-Sufficiency
Ethiopia’s prospect of wheat self-sufficiency within 1-2 years can be possible because of two
favorable and realistic scenarios; increasing wheat productivity in the rain-fed agro
ecologies and expansion of production to the irrigable lowland areas. Raising wheat
productivity, in the rain-fed areas of 1.8 million ha, from the current 2.8 t/ha to3.8t/ha,
could bring about an additional increase of 1.8 million tons of wheat grain to the national
food basket per an- num, i.e. exactly what our country has imported in 2018.
Under the second scenario of expanding wheat production to the lowland agro-ecologies,
Ethiopia needs to bring about 400, 000 ha of land under irrigation with average productivity
of 4.4 t/ ha, to make the county self-sufficient.
Therefore, the practical scenario should combine options of both vertical and horizontal
increments of wheat production in order to make Ethiopia’s wheat import a history.
Cognizant to the aforementioned facts, the Government of Ethiopia
(GoE) has already identified key priority intervention areas to increase productivity of
small-scale farmers and expand large-scale commercial production of wheat.
The top priorities identified include: development of small- and large-scale irrigation
schemes, financing effectual supply of agricultural inputs, improving agricultural production
methods using mechanization, post-harvest loss reduction and natural resources
management. Accordingly, the GoE has set a goal to enhance local wheat production, attain
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wheat self-sufficiency and end the import by 2021. This could be possible mainly through
wheat land area expansion that is readily and widely available in the lowland agro-ecologies
of the country particularly in the Awash, Omo and Shebele river basins.
Lowland irrigated wheat research: achievements
The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), in collabo- ration with its strategic
partners, has long been striving to change the production system of cereals by developing
wheat technologies suitable for the irrigated lowland areas in sequence with cotton and/ or
soybean. Wearer Agricultural Research Center is the coordinating center for lowland
irrigated wheat re- search in Ethiopia. Thus far, Wearer Research Center has released, since
2008, seven bread wheat and one durum wheat varieties suitable for lowland irrigated
agro-ecologies. More than 100 bread and durum wheat varieties suitable for highland rain-
fed agro-ecologies were released since 1950’s. Research findings from Wearer clearly
showed that improved packages of high-yielding, heat- and stress-tolerant wheat varieties
could yield up to 65 t/ha, indicating the possibility and suitability of the hot lowland
irrigated areas for bumper harvest of wheat.

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 List of recently released wheat varieties for irrigated areas
Type Variety Year of release Maturity Yield
days (t/ha)
Bread Ga’ambo 2011 85 4.5-5.0
Wheat Lucy 2013 81 4.0-5.0
Werer-2 2013 82 4.0-4.5
Fentale-1 2015 82 5.0-5.7
Amibera-1 2015 90 5.0-5.1
Fentale-2 2017 81 5.5-6.5
Amibera-2 2017 79 5.0-6.0
Durum Werer-1 2008 87 3.0-3.5

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Wheat Seed Production:
Wheat seed is the vehicle to transfer improved varieties (genetic gains) to farmers. Avail-
ability of ad- equate and quality seed is a critical requirement for sustainable wheat
production. Weak wheat seed production and delivery system are often mentioned as major
constraints to wheat production in Ethiopia. If the wheat seed system is robust, then the
wheat sub-sector would be strengthened resulting in a bumper harvest, which in turn leads
to wheat self-sufficiency and food security.
The various entities of the Ethiopian Agricultural Research System are responsible for Early
Generation Seed (EGS) production whereas the public and private seed enterprises are
responsible for large-scale certified seed production. In addition, a wide range of semi-
formal or intermediate seed sector actors represented by local seed businesses are engaged
in production and distribution of Quality Declared Seed (QDS). The EIAR in collaboration
with development partners has been providing support on the development of efficient,
gender-responsive community-based wheat seed production and delivery system. Although
there are several public enterprises for the rain-fed wheat seed production, lack of public
seed enterprises responsible for irrigated wheat seed production has seriously constrained
supply of seed and thus hindered rapid dissemination and diffusion of irrigated wheat
production in Ethiopia.
Irrigated Wheat Initiatives:
Productivity, Land Area and Job Creation
The major focus of wheat initiative is to radically improve wheat production by deploying
best-bet wheat technologies in the major wheat growing agro-ecologies of Ethiopia.
Improved irrigated wheat technology demonstration was started on a hectare of land
around Werer Research Center in the Afar Regional State in 2012. Since then, the promotion
activities were progressively increased over years and widely expanded to other regions
such as Oromia and SNNP by involving many farmers, agro-pastorals and large-scale
commercial farms. During 2019/20 cropping season, land area covered by irrigated wheat
in different regions surpassed
15, 100 ha, and the Afar Region takes the lion’s share followed by Oromia and SNNP.

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Table . Trends of irrigated wheat improved technology promotion in Ethiopia (2012-2019)
Year of Area covered Productivity Total Production
demonstration (ha) (t/ha) (ton
2012/13 1 2.9 2.9
2013/14 3 3.8 11.6
2014/15 30 4.2 126.0
2015/16 58 3.7 213.7
2016/17 109 2.9 316.7
2017/18 804 3.7 3,029.8
2018/19 3,502 4.4 15,400.0
2019/20 15,100 ? not yet estimated ? not yet estimated

Outcome of the Wheat Initiative

The intervention with best-bet irrigated wheat technologies has brought about a significant
outcome on wheat productivity, land area and job creation. Wheat yield increased from 2.9
t/ha in 2012 to 4.4 t/ha in 2019, which is an increase of 51.7%. Irrigated wheat land area
also increased by many folds, but there is still enormous potential for more area of
expansion.
With regard to job creation, dissemination and popularization of improved wheat technolo-
gy has created many additional jobs in the intervention areas and along the wheat value
chain.
The enhanced and best-bet wheat production system created many new and good jobs
along the down- and up- stream in the value chain including production, aggregation,
storage, milling, processing, logistics, food preparation, bakeries, pastries, restaurants and
other related services. This indicates that many on-farm and off-farm employment oppor-
tunities are emerging because of the interventions on wheat.
Mechanized wheat production also created job opportunities for tractor/combiner owners,
drivers, financial ser- vice-providers and input suppliers. Thus, in Ethiopia wheat

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production provides on- and off-farm job opportunities that can absorb quite a large
number of employees.
While the majority of Ethiopian youth aspires to see its future outside agriculture, many
good job opportunities remain in agriculture particularly in wheat production along its
value chain. However, making wheat production activities attractive and competitive,
through improved technologies, innovation and investment, are very crucial. Therefore, the
renewed commitment of the GoE to invest on wheat production providentially brightens the
future.
Highly successful national, regional and community level farmers’ field days were held in
different districts with the aim of enhancing dissemination of improved packages of wheat
technology particularly through farmer-to-farmer technology diffusion system. The field
days brought together many stake holders including policy makers, farmers, researchers,
extension workers, input and credit providers, processors, millers and manufacturers for
exchange of information, experience and expertise. On the field days, leaflets and brochures
were distributed. The national and regional field day events were aired on national and
regional TVs and radios and well documented on newspapers.
Advocacy was another influential aspect used for effective and sustainable wheat
production. Four wheat-focused advocacy events were held at federal and region levels. The
government has been providing support to solve key constraints of wheat production
including: timely supply of inputs (seeds, fertilizers, and chemicals), farm machineries and
credit capacity to mobilize capital. Policy advocacy also played a significant role to
encourage and influence different stakeholders who hold decision-making power. As a re-
sult, all wheat value chain stakeholders and actors agreed to join hands and enhance
production. Thus, irrigated wheat production is complementary to Ethiopia’s wheat
initiative that can lead to self-sufficient by 2021.
Status of Wheat Technology Demonstration and Seed Production in
2019/20
During 2019/20 cropping sea- son, the EIAR has been promoting large-scale demon-
strations of irrigated wheat and seed production on more than 12,500 hectares in the
Awash Basin (Table 3). Out of these 3,000 ha are for seed production. Similarly, the Ministry
of Agriculture (MoA) and Agricultural Research Council (EARC) in collaboration with
Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) are promoting the same technologies in the Omo
and Shebelle river basins on 500 and 2,100 hectares, respectively. In general, the
performances of best-bet irrigated wheat technology demonstration and popularization are
encouraging and this clearly justifies the need for further scaling up/out in different parts of
the country by involving diverse actors such as public, private, smallholder farmers,
pastoralists and other development partners.
Table. Demonstration and dissemination of improved lowland wheat technologies

during 2019/20 cool season.

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 River Clusters Districts Total land
valley area (ha)
Tibilla Sire, Jeju and Merti 866
Fentale Boset & Fentale 954
Amibara Awash Fentale, Amibara, 2570
Dulecha,
Gewane Gewane & Buremedayitu 450
Dubti Dubti, Asaita, Afambo & 4760
Awash Gerani
Other Oromia East Shoa, West Shoa & 2900
Clusters SW Shoa
Sub-total 12,500

Omo Omo Arma Minch Zuria, 500

South Omo
Shebele Gode Gode 2,100
Total 15,100

Training and Capacity Buildings

Training of farmers, development agents and extension workers was considered as the
means through which improved technologies, knowledge and skills are conveyed to enable
farmers to use the new practices accurately. A series of trainings was delivered on improved
wheat technologies such as land preparation, appropriate sowing time, planting methods,
optimum fertilizer and water application, weed and pest control, quality seed production
and post-harvest handling, and community-based wheat seed production. Farmers training
sessions were very brief, participatory and more of practical.

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 Key Messages
Rain-fed based production of cereals cannot ensure food security of Ethiopia and thus
irrigated production is a necessity rather than an option;
• Ethiopia has a huge potential of irrigable land in the lowlands which needs to be harnessed
through appropriate use of technologies and enabling policy framework;
• Seed represents the first input required to enhance wheat production. Thus, the challenge
of wheat seed production and delivery system should be tackled to ensure it’s availability,
accessibility, affordability and sustainability;
• It is critically important to strengthen the capacity of research centers catering for lowland
irrigated agriculture; infrastructure (modern irrigation schemes) and establish/ strengthen
institutions (seed supply, machinery services, market information, financial services, etc.)
necessary to sustain and harmonize irrigated agriculture;
• Ethiopia needs to modernize its wheat production through use of modern farm
machineries in order to reduce drudgery and enhance sustainable intensification, precision
and timeliness of farm operations;
• It is equally crucial to enhance participation of the private sector through providing
technical support and creating conducive credit system for investment on farm machineries;
• Strengthening the interventions on promotion and dissemination of available wheat
technologies can bring impacts on wheat productivity, area expansion and job creation in
Ethiopia;
• Role of women farmers in wheat production is increasing, but continuous training and
elevating their knowledge and skill is crucial for sustainable wheat production in Ethiopia;
• Establish/strengthen a system linking producers with input-output market along the value
chain, involving the youth, women and agricultural professionals.

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