Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies & Management 16(4): 501 – 514, 2023

ISSN:1998-0507 doi: https://ejesm.org/doi/v16i4.8

Submitted: July 18, 2023 Accepted: September 11, 2023

ASSESSING IRRIGATION POTENTIAL OF MANNISA WATERSHED USING GIS AND

REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGIES IN OFFA WOREDA, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

ALEM TESFAY
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wachemo University, Ethiopia
*Email: alexotesfay316@gmail.com

Abstract
Erratic rainfall in Ethiopia has brought areas under extreme drought is increasing year to
year. Assessing land suitability for irrigation has become the key strategies to minimize
vulnerability to food insecurity. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the
irrigation potential of the Mannissa watershed of Offa Woreda for surface irrigation. The
watershed covers an area of 36.3km2. The Landsat imagery (2020) with 28.5 m resolution
and DEM data from USGS were used for land use land cover classification (LULCC). ArcGIS
10.8, ERDAS Imagine 10.5 and Google Earth software were used for the entire process of
land use classification, delineation of the watershed, extraction of the stream network and
derivation of the slope map. Metrological data were obtained from the World Climate Data
Portal and cross-validated to the National data. In order to identify a suitable potential
surface irrigation area, the soil chemical (pH, organic carbon) and physical (soil type, soil
drainage, soil depth and texture classes) properties, mean annual temperature and
precipitation, LULC, elevation and slope were reclassified using ArcMap 10.8 and
categorized according to their suitability classes ranging from ‘very suitable’ (class S1) to
‘not suitable’ (class N2). The multi-criteria assessment of suitability employed using the
Weighted Overlay Tool. Based on the model analysis, from 36.3 km2 area coverage of the
watershed, approximately 55.1% (20km2) is estimated to be suitable ranging from “very
suitable” to “slightly suitable” whereas the remaining area of the study area estimated to
be not suitable currently. From the area delineated as potentially “suitable” for surface
irrigation, about 14.5% land is “very suitable” (S1), 22.5% is “moderately suitable” (S2), and
17.65% is “slightly suitable” (S3), respectively. Thus, the study watershed has extensive
potential areas for surface irrigation. The local government and other stakeholders should
plan irrigation schemes and encourage farmers to engage in surface irrigation in these high
and moderately suitable areas to enhance land productivity and reduce food insecurity.

Key Words: GIS, Irrigation, Land requirement, Multi-Criteria Evaluation, Suitability Analysis

This work is licensed to the publisher under the Creative Commons Attributions License 4.0

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 Assessing Irrigation Potential of Mannisa Watershed Using Geospatial Technologies.…………Alem
Introduction
Ethiopia has huge potential of water
and land resources for surface irrigation,
which can help to maintain food security
(Awulachew et al., 2007; Daniel et al.,
2020). However, the country remained
food insecurity and unable to irrigate the
potentially irrigable area (Makombe et al.,
2007, Wale et al., 2013; Daniel et al.,
2020). Thus, most rural Ethiopians are
among the poorest in the country, with
limited access to agricultural technology,
limited opportunities to diversify
agricultural production, and little or no
access to agricultural markets and to
technological innovations. Study
confirmed that there is little quantitative
study on the groundwater resource
potential for irrigation and other
nondomestic water uses, despite some
gross estimates and large-scale
assessments of groundwater irrigation
potential (MoA, 2000; MacDonald et al.,
2012).
As a result, Ethiopian agriculture is
mainly dependent on the rain field
(Awulachew and Ayana, 2011), in spite of
that the irrigation practices have received
less attention and yields insufficient
amount of produces (Malczewski, 2004).
However, the agriculture industry in
Ethiopia is traditionally subsistence based
and rain-fed, which frequently suffers
from rainfall variability (Seleshi and
Camberlin, 2006; Yohannes et al., 2019).
The irrigation water requirements of the
irrigable areas for the cultivation of some
crops in the area initiated to evaluate the
irrigation potential of the Mannisa river
basin in Offa Woreda. While the study
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Woreda has surface water potential, the
exploitation of the water resource for
irrigated agriculture remains scarce. The
study examined the surface irrigation
potential of the study area using GIS and
RS techniques and, Multi-criteria
assessment techniques (MCE). The
factors considered to evaluate land for
surface irrigation are slope, physical and
chemical soil properties, meteorological
data and LULC classes.
Materials and methods
Study Area
Offa Woreda is 183km from the
regional town of Hawassa and 382 km
from the capital Addis Ababa. It is
geographically located at 6°44ʹ30ʺ North
latitude and 37°35ʹ30ʺ East longitude
(Tera and Wolde, 2016). Most parts of the
study area are generally characterized by
mountains (25%), falling into undulating
plains (40%) and gently sloping plains
(35%) ranging in elevation from 1200 to
2800 m above sea level. Offa Woreda has
three major agro-ecological zones, Qolla
(lowland), Weynadega (midland) and Wet
Dega (highland), covering 31%, 48% and
21% of the total area, respectively. The
minimum and maximum temperature and
annual rainfall range from 14°C to 34°C
and 1250 to 1350 mm, respectively. The
rural population makes up to 92% of the
total population mainly engaged in mixed
farming which is dominantly rain-fed
subsistence farming for growing crops and
raising livestock (Tera and Wolde, 2016).
The Offa Woreda covers an area of
385km2 while the Mannisa watershed
accounts about 35.5km2 (Figure 1).
 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Volume 16 No.4, 2023

Fig. 1: Map of the Study Area

Methods format at a scale of 1:1000000, was

This study employs both quantitative
and qualitative interpretation with
descriptive research design. This is
because, quantitative and qualitative
phases occur sequentially, with the
quantitative being given a higher priority
and confounding in data interpretation
occurs. The study used data from different
data sources: the satellite image OLI
(Landsat 8) with the acquisition date
January 2021 and a spatial resolution of
30m and DEM data obtained from USGS
database. FAO/UNESCO-Soil Map of
East Africa (1997), available in Arc/Info
obtained from the FAO data portals.
Besides, the soil physical and chemical
properties, namely soil type, soil depth,
soil OC, soil texture, soil drainage and soil
pH data were acquired from the
Harmonized World Soil Database
(HWSD) Version 1.2. Also the
meteorological (temperature and
precipitation data) were obtained from the
National Meteorological Agency. The
software ArcGIS10.8, ERDAS
IMAGIN2015 and Google Earth pro were
used to prepare, process and analyze the
data.

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 Assessing Irrigation Potential of Mannisa Watershed Using Geospatial Technologies.…………Alem
Data analysis of physical land
resources of the study such as stream flow
data, slope map, meteorological data, land
use, land cover and soil data were
analyzed.
Distance from water supply was from
identified Perennial River to a given
potential irrigation area are measured
using several ring buffers tools. Then the
reclassified distance map was used for the
weighted overlay analysis along with
other factor maps. Distance from the water
source is the most heavily weighted factor,
accounting for 20% of the influences
among the other factors. This is to reduce
the cost of diverting the water to the
command area. Finally, the flow data in
vector format were converted to a raster
format to match the other layers in this
study.
Meteorological data was obtained and
processed in ArcGIS using the Spatial
Analyst tool and an inverse distance-
weighted (IDW) technique. To identify a
suitable potential area for surface
irrigation, the mean annual temperature
and precipitation data were reclassified.
According to Chen et al. (2010), the area
with higher precipitation offers higher
yield and lower yield variability.
Therefore, the reclassification of
precipitation and temperature for surface
irrigation was based on the available
precipitation amount and temperature.
This shows that surface irrigation took
place in areas with low rainfall and high
temperatures. In this study, the higher
mean annual precipitation and the lower
mean annual temperature were classified
as currently not suitable for surface
irrigation and the high mean annual
temperature and low mean annual
precipitation as very suitable for surface
irrigation.
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Land use land cover map was
obtained by classifying the OLI landsat
which processed using ERDAS Imagine
2015 image processing software. The
supervised classification technique was
used to classify image pixels into the
associated spectral class. Training
location identification is based on GPS
points collected by Google Earth Pro. The
ground control points identified or
collected were added to the image as the
coordinate of the training ground. Using a
supervised classification with maximum
likelihood algorithm, five land cover
classes—forested area, built-up area,
grassland, bare area, cultivated land—
were classified. Finally, the land use land
cover map was imported into ArcGIS
software and categorized by its suitability
class. The land use group was divided into
five classes ranging from very suitable
(class S1) to not suitable (class N2) (FAO,
1976) under the land suitability
classification. The classification area
accuracy land use land cover map was
validated by collecting ground truth data
using the Google Earth application
extension.
Soil data is estimated to analyze the
soil suitability of the study area for
irrigation based on physical and chemical
soil properties. Therefore, for this study,
chemical (pH, organic carbon) and
physical (soil type, soil drainage, soil
depth, and texture classes) primary soil
factors were extracted from HWSD and
then thefeature layers were converted to
the grid plane. Finally, soil suitability
maps were developed for each physical
soil parameter with the factor rating of S1,
S2, S3 and N by reclassifying the grid
layers based on the FAO soil classification
guideline (FAO, 1976; Sheng, 1990;
Sheshukov et al., 2011).
 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Volume 16 No.4, 2023
Slope was measured to estimate the
land suitability for irrigation since it is the
main topographical feature that
determines the suitability of the land for
surface irrigation. It affects an area's
suitability in terms of land preparation for
irrigation and irrigation operations
(Hussein et al., 2019). ASTER DEM with
a resolution of 30m was used to derive a
slope map of the study area while the slope
map was reclassified to achieve the
required slope condition and was divided
into four grades (0-2%, 2-5%, 5-8% and >
8%) following (FAO, 1976).
Standardizing the Factors
The FAO (1976) and Rossiter (2009)
proposed an approach to assessing soil
suitability in the form of suitability ratings
from very suitable to unsuitable based on
the suitability of soil properties for
different crops. According to FAO (1976),
soil suitability maps were divided into
very suitable (S1), moderately suitable
(S2), slightly suitable (S3), temporarily
unsuitable S4 (N1) and permanently
unsuitable S5 (N2). Each of the factor has
been standardized using the reclassify
module so that the results present a
common numeric range that gives higher
scores to more appropriate attributes. The
factors were reclassified according to the
spatial existence of the factors in the study
area. As a result, of the ten factors,
impervious layer has the smallest classes,
while soil type and land use have the
largest classes. The reclassification
process was performed based on the five
classes of agricultural land eligible for
irrigation according to the FAO
framework (FAO, 1976; Mandal et al.,
2018)
Establishing the Factor Weights
This phase was conducted to establish
a set of weights for each of the factor. At
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this stage, the importance or preference of
each criterion relative to the rest of the
criteria for selecting suitable plots was
expressed by assigning weights (Banks et
al., 2014). This was done using related
review literature, field observations and
expert judgment to populate a pairwise
comparison matrix from which a set of
weights called eigenvectors and values
were generated along with consistency
ratios for each of the criteria considered
(Chen et al., 2010; Ayalew and Selassie,
2015). The available values for
comparison are the members of the set: {9,
7, 5, 3, 1, 1/3, 1/5, 1/7, 1/9}, where 9
represents absolute importance and 1/9
represents the absolute triviality (Harker
and Vargas, 1987). Then factor weights
were assessed to make the multi-criteria
assessment of suitability for surface
irrigation development.
Undertaking the Multi-Criteria
Evaluation (MCE)
Once the weights were determined, the
Weighted Overlay Tool module (for
multi-criteria evaluation) was used to
combine the factors to conduct a multi-
criteria evaluation. A weighted linear
combination combines factors by
weighting each factor, followed by
summing the results to produce a
suitability map i.e.:
S = wixi
Where S = suitability; wi = weight of
factor I; xi = criterion score of factors i
The procedure is optimized for speed
and causes each factor to be multiplied by
its weight, the results to be added and then
the result to be successively multiplied by
each of the factors. The weights of the
eigenvectors and weights add up (the total
influence for all factors) to 1 and 100%,
respectively. GIS and MCE techniques are
recognized worldwide for their
 Assessing Irrigation Potential of Mannisa Watershed Using Geospatial Technologies.…………Alem
outstanding support in map overlay
processes for any form of land suitability
analysis (Carver, 1991; Malczewski,
1999). The main problem with MCE
relates to combining information from
multiple criteria into a single assessment
index (Eastman, 2001). However, the
fundamental advantages of using MCE
techniques relate to the possibilities to
assess all factors on different scales and to
bring together information gathered from
different criteria based on their relative
weights with the guidance of experts.
Finally, the majority filter tool was used to
refine optimal areas for surface irrigation
(Banks et al., 2014).
Integrated method of the study
Fig. 2: General Methodology flow of the study
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Weighing of irrigation suitability factors
to find potential irrigable sites
To find a suitable site for surface
irrigation, a suitability model was built
using the Model Builder in the
ArcToolbox and tools from the Spatial
Analysis tool sets. After their individual
suitability was assessed, the irrigation
suitability factors considered in this study
such as slope factor, soil factor, land
cover/use factor and distance factor were
used as input to the irrigation suitability
model to find the most suitable land for
surface irrigation, as in (Figure 4,5&6)
shown.
 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Volume 16 No.4, 2023
Results and Discussion
Effect of factors for surface irrigation
suitability mapping
The factors of topography, soil, climate
and land cover were used as parameters to
assess the overall land suitability for
surface irrigation. The topography of the
study area was generally characterized by
moderate gradient and only a small
portion (2%) of the area was very steep
gradient. Arable land was the dominant
land cover at 18.1km2 (49.6%), barren
land and grassland at 6.35km2 (17.5%),
forest area at 2.3km2 (6.3%) and of built-
up area/settlement areas with 9.75km2
(26.73%) (Figure 3b). As shown in the
(figure 3d), Humic Alisols and Humic
Nitosols are the most important soil types
in the study area with 2.8km2 and 32.6km2
respectively. Soil drainage of the study
area was well moderate for surface
irrigation (Figure 4c). The soil depth of the
study area also ranges from very shallow
(43.2cm) to very deep (more than 100cm).
The pH values varied from 4.14 to 5.9
(Figure 5a); this indicates that the soil of
the study area was moderately acidic. The
amount of soil organic carbon in the
Mannisa watershed ranged from 0.27 to
1.8. The spatial distribution of the mean
annual precipitation for the district ranges
from 1280 to 1350 mm and the annual
temperature varies from 18.6 to 21.5 °C
(Figure 6b). As a result, physical factors
such as distance from the water source and
slope were the most important factors in
determining the suitability of the
watershed for irrigation, followed by
texture classes, soil drainage, and soil
depth with 7.44%, 6.34% and 5%, 4.1%
and 4.04% of the influence weight,
respectively. Precipitation, temperature,
LULC, pH, and OC were considered to
have 4.3%, 6.3%, 6.5%, 6.4%, and 6.3%
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of the influence, respectively listed as less
important.
Irrigation Factors Suitability Evaluation
The analysis results of the assessment
factors for suitability of surface irrigation
are analyzed below. Catchment-level land
suitability analysis for surface irrigation is
an interdisciplinary approach that
incorporates information from various
sources such as climate, topography, soils,
LULC, and distance from the water source
(Bojorquez-Tapia et al., 2001). The
weighted criteria were aggregated into a
final suitability map according to defined
regulations in ArcGIS (figure 7)
According to Elumalai et al. (2020),
slopes less than 8% are suitable for
irrigation development. The slope of the
majority (80%) of the study area is very
well to conditionally suitable for surface
irrigation ranged from (S1), (S2) to (S3)
for surface irrigation systems. Only 20%
of the study area has a slope greater than
8%, which is temporarily and permanently
unsuitable for surface irrigation.
The cultivated land and grassland
LULC classes were rated as (S1) and (S2)
with 49.6% and 7.8%, assuming that these
classes are suitable for irrigation. As
reported by (Kefelegn, 2019), in Loma
Woreda, more than 73.27% of the land use
area was highly irrigated and 26.73% was
moderately irrigated. In addition, 88% of
Dale Woreda's land use area was also
suitable for surface irrigation. Bareland,
forest and settlement were rated from (N1)
to (N2) for irrigation with 9.64%, 0.55%
and 26.73%, respectively. Based on
suitability evaluation, 16.7% of the Omo
Ghibe catchment area is currently
unsuitable. It is evident that these land
cover classes, like settlements, are entirely
restricted to irrigation, covering 26.73%
of the study area, while the LULC
 Assessing Irrigation Potential of Mannisa Watershed Using Geospatial Technologies.…………Alem

unsuitable for surface irrigation accounts
37%.
In the Ghibe-omo River Basin, about
55.1% of the distance from the watersheds
of the study area is very suitable 44.9% is
not suitable for surface irrigation practice
and, 15.43% and 2.6% of the land area is
(S2) and (S3) for water irrigation,
respectively. Accordingly, the potential
irrigable area identified from the total was
45.9% for developing of surface
irrigation.

a b

c
Fig. 3: Evaluation of irrigation suitability factors; slope (a), LULC (b), & distance from the
river (c) maps of the study area

Based on the study the main soil types
identified in the study area are Humic-
alisols and Humic-nitosols as shown in
(Figure 4a). Humic-alisols (deep soil
depth, a loamy structure and a good
drainage condition) covering 2.8km2
(7.86%) of the total area were classified as
(S1) for surface irrigation. Humic-nitosols
covering an area of 32.6km2 (92.14%)
were classified as S2, characterized by
optimal conditions for a surface irrigation
system in relation to all factors except that
sandy clay texture are limited.
Based on the (Figure 4c), 100% of the
study area was moderately drained soil
(S2), and; in terms of soil depth (84.2%),
the soil was moderately deep (S2). This
shows that the soil drainage and soil depth
of the study area were effective and
suitable for irrigation practices. In terms

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 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Volume 16 No.4, 2023

of soil texture, clay loam 1.2 km2 (3.4%)
and clay 34.3 km2 (96.6%) were the two
types of soil textures (S2) and (S3) for the
assessed area, respectively (Figure 4d).
The soil classified as unsuitable accounts
for 20,137 ha (13.4%) of the total study
area (Dale Woreda) by (Wale et al., 2013).
According to (Al-shammary et al., 2019),
soil types with soil texture clay to clay
loam, soil depth and excellent soil
drainage were classified as (S1) and (S2)
(56.68%) and covered 13% of the total
area coverage of the Shayla sub-basin in
the ball zone. As (Wale et al, 2013)
17.48% was marginally suitable and only
0.16% was well-drained and very suitable
soil, while 12.53% of the basin under
current conditions are not suit for surface
irrigation practices.

a b

c d
Fig. 4: Physical soil properties factors irrigation suitability evaluation: soil type (a), soil
depth (b), soil drainage (c) & soil texture (d) maps of the study area

As (figure 5a) soil pH and its spatial Soil OC suitability ranges from (S2) to
distribution in the study watershed were (S3) with 70.7% and 21.88% of the
93.37% and 5.9%, respectively, which are watershed for irrigation, respectively
(S3) and (S2) for irrigation, respectively. (figure 5b). These soils are classified as S2

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 Assessing Irrigation Potential of Mannisa Watershed Using Geospatial Technologies.…………Alem

and S3 due to the presence of factors S3 to S2 with the most appropriate

limiting the land for the stated use. irrigation methods such as sprinkler and
However, S2 can be transferred to S1 and drip irrigation on these soils.

a b
Fig. 5: Chemical soil properties factors irrigation suitability evaluation: soil pH (a) & soil
OC (b) maps of the study area

The suitability for precipitation ranges from (S2) to (S3), which corresponds to 93.3%
and 5.9% respectively (Figure 6a). Thus, 73.3% and 26.7% of the watershed temperature
were (S3) and (N1) for irrigation, respectively.

a b
Fig. 6. Meteorological factors irrigation suitability evaluation: rainfall (a) & temperature
(b) maps of the study area

Potential Suitable land for Irrigation
Based on the interpretation of the
physical and chemical properties of the
parameters, potentially irrigable land was
identified by constructing an irrigation
suitability model analysis that included a
weighting of the values of all datasets such
as soil, slope, land cover and distance
from water supply.

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 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Volume 16 No.4, 2023

Fig. 7: Potential Suitable Land for Irrigation

Table 1: The analysis results of surface irrigation suitability evaluation factors

Suitability Area_km2 (%)
S1 5.3 14.5
S2 8.24 22.5
S3 6.45 17.65
N1 10.31 28.2
N2 6.26 17.1
Total 36.55 100

Of the total area coverage of the Ausha
Lower Basin's, Bale Zone, 22.05% was
classified as (S1), while 33.57% was
classified as (N1) for surface irrigation
(Al-Shammary et al., 2019).
Approximately 68.9% of the Ghibe-omo
river basin was potentially (S2) for
irrigation according to (Elias et al., 2019).
In addition, approximately 1.3% of the
area of the Gilo Lower Basin is classified
as marginally and permanently unsuitable
for surface irrigation (Kadigi et al., 2019).
Of the total area of the Erer watershed, a
small part (11.7%) of the watershed has
been classified as highly suitable for
surface irrigation (Kassaye et al., 2019).
Accordingly, it was found that (S1) 55.1%
(20km2) of the total area coverage in the

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 Assessing Irrigation Potential of Mannisa Watershed Using Geospatial Technologies.…………Alem
study area (S2) 5.3km2 (14.5%), (S3)
8.24km2 (22.5%) and (N1) 6.45km2
(17.65%) and (N2)10.3km2 (28.2) and
6.3km2 (17.1%) respectively. About
44.9% of the area coverage than at present
and permanently unsuitable for surface
irrigation (Table 1).
Conclusion and Recommendation
The main irrigation suitability factors
evaluated during the study were slope, soil
(texture, drainage, pH, OC, type and
depth), land use/cover, temperature,
rainfall and distance from the river. More
than 80% of the results from the suitability
analysis of irrigation potential in terms of
slope, soil, distance from a river, climate
and land use/cover range from very
suitable to conditionally suitable for
surface irrigation. The conclusion drawn
from the results that approximately 55%
of the study area were (S1) to (S3) suitable
for irrigation, respectively; considering
the limiting factors LULC, slope, soil
conditions, climate and distance to the
river. Therefore, the specific limitations of
land and management options for
sustainable use were addressed. Low
eligible land should be used under high
level management. The remaining 44.9%
of the area was not suitable for irrigation
due to the limiting factors.
Irrigation is necessary to improve rural
income through increased agricultural
production and to provide produce for the
urban market. However, this can be
achieved by evaluating the available land
and water resources for irrigation.
Therefore, the identified surface irrigation
potential of river basins in the study area
can be helpful in activities of irrigation
projects in Offa Woreda and other
watersheds. The irrigation suitability
constraints such as water quality,
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environmental, economic and social
conditions should further assess the land
suitability for irrigation (distance, slope,
soil, land use/cover and meteorological
parameters). In addition, geospatial
technologies and data inputs are effective
land use policies, actively involving local
government and other stakeholders, and
creating community awareness to include
these highly and moderately suitable areas
for surface irrigation should be considered
for better irrigation practices.
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