World Water Form - 2012
ENHANCING IRRIGATION PERFORMAMCE IN AFRICA FOR FOOD SECURITY
THROUGH PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS – ZAMBIA IRRIGATION
DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT PROJECT
Barnabas Mulenga, PhD
Zambia Irrigation Development Support Project (IDSP)
Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock
Background:
Figure 1. Geographical location of
Zambia
Zambia endowed with abundant arable land and water resource potential. The country has an extensive
network of rivers which serves as the major source of water for much of southern Africa. The total
irrigated area is about 190,000 hectares, accounting only for 7% of the total estimated 3 million hectares
of potentially irrigable land. Currently, 70% of natural water resources remain untapped and only 28% of
the potential available has been harnessed for hydroelectricity power generation
The Government of Zambia, in conjunction with the World Bank, has prepared the Zambia Irrigation
Development Support Project to provide bulk water irrigation infrastructure and establishment of
commercially and market oriented irrigation schemes in selected high “potential” areas across the country
using a contractual approach based on the concept of Public Private Partnership (PPP).
Like many Sub-Sahara African countries, Zambia has been grappling with problems of under
development in the irrigated agricultural sector in-spite of abundant arable land and good quality surface
water. Development of irrigation sector and its contribution to poverty alleviation, GDP and overall
economic growth has been circumscribed due to factors that includes;
1. Lack of conducive policy and institutional capacity
(Inappropriate agricultural policies that stifles private sector participation and investment and encourages unsustainable dependence
by farmers on Government, something which has often been encouraged in the past for political expedience; lack of institutional
capacity to effectively and efficiently spear head development in irrigation sector.)
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World Water Form - 2012
2. Lack of “appropriate” technologies
(Appropriate technologies are technologies that can be adopted and adapted efficiently and effectively by farmers taking into consideration the
technical, physical, socio and economic challenges confronting. Many low cost irrigation technologies are not easily adaptable to the Zambian
environment due to topographic limitations where much of irrigable agricultural land is well above sources of water and utterly precluding the use
of surface irrigation and necessitating the need to lift or pump water. Advanced low to medium cost technologies such as 30 ha centre pivots are
now being deployed for small to medium scale farmers. Most preferred cash and dietary/ staple crops such as maize, wheat, tobacco, and cotton
cannot easily be irrigated under cheap flood irrigation, compounding the need for advanced and appropriate overhead irrigation technology.)
3. Lack of enabling complimentary provisions such as reliable input and market accessibility.
(Lack of organized and reliable marketing and agro-service provider arrangements in Zambia and much of Africa has been a
constraint on the development and growth of the irrigation sector especially for small-scale farmers most of whom are in rural
areas.)
The Zambia IDSP has identified PPP contractual approach as the common denominator in the above three
listed major problems and as a solution for the underperforming of the irrigation sector and its limited
contribution towards poverty alleviation and national development in Zambia.
The PPP project concept and approach First, irrigation scheme financial sustainability: the Government
will invest in irrigation schemes with commercial potential and income streams sufficient to cover fees for
maintenance and operation as well as productive and marketing services. Second, professional irrigation
scheme management: successful management will require services provided by a contracted O&M
Operator. Third, inclusive opportunities: the project includes smallholders, some of whom will be
women and young people, as well as employment opportunities for people not directly farming the
irrigated areas. Fourth, transparent and participatory decision making: entire communities need to
become informed partners in a process that involves the (re-)allocation of land and water resources
Three types of irrigated plots are envisaged that can be combined within each scheme, depending on sitespecific conditions. These include (Figure 2): (i) Tier 1, small individually farmed plots with a maximum
size of 1 ha, using flood or furrow irrigation; (ii) Tier 2, somewhat larger plots belonging to individual
farmers or small groups of neighboring farmers, with a size of 1 to 5 ha, using sprinkler irrigation systems
and farmed under the guidance of the scheme professional operator; and (iii) Tier 3, large plots of at least
60 ha, owned by the association or the cooperative, using centre-pivot or other type of modern irrigation
and managed by the professional operator
Figure 2. Three types of plots envisaged in the smallholder irrigation schemes.
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The PPP contractual approach will entail adopting partnership arrangements and agreements to govern
aspects of irrigation development related to construction and management of irrigation infrastructure, and
operation of irrigation schemes. The project has since engaged smallholder community farmer and all
stakeholders in an informed participatory planning and preparation process and has since hired a
Transaction Advisor to facilitate the process with the objective of defining partnership scenarios that take
into consideration competing interests and priorities of all stakeholders.
Studies conducted during project preparation suggest that different entities will need to be established as
part of the partnership scenario on each site: (i) a publicly-owned and funded entity would be established
as an infrastructure financing company or “UtilityCo” holding the bulk irrigation assets; (ii) a bulk water
concessionaire1 will be responsible for construction and O&M of the irrigation infrastructure; and (iii)
Farm Management Companies or “FarmCo” will directly manage Tier 3 and provide services to the
smallholder farmers on Tiers 1 and 2. The relationships between the different entities in the partnership
arrangements are summarized in Figure 3
Figure 3. Relationship between entities in the partnership arrangements
1
Concessionaire is described as an individual who holds or operates a concession in a place or business owned on behalf of another entity.
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