Ecosystems for water, food and economic
development in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia
Huib Hengsdijk, Dagnachew Legesse, Herco Jansen, Petra
Spliethoff, Wolter Scholten, Edwin van der Maden, Tamiru
Alemayehu, Petra Hellegers
Content
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LNV policy questions and needs
Introduction Central Rift Valley (CRV)
Research approach
Some results
Policy/research agenda
LNV policy questions and needs
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FAO/NL Pre-conference ‘Water for Food and
Ecosystems’ in Ethiopia, November 2004
Request for collaboration
Case study area: Central Rift Valley
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Horticulture development (export)
Food insecure/poverty
National Wetland Park
Declining surface water tables
LNV policy questions and needs
Goal:
To strengthen local authorities in the field of
environmental management contributing to a
sustainable development of the CRV
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Identify and study interrelated issues
Identify options for improved resource use
Contribute to policy and research agenda
Study area
Catchment area: 1.0 Mln ha
Population: 1.5 Mln
Land use
Irrigated land
0.6%
Intensively cultivated
21%
Mixed cultivated/wood land
42%
Swamp/wetland/Lake
10%
Forest/acacia woodland
21%
Degraded savanna
Altitude: 1500 - 2400 m
Rainfall: 600 – 1400 mm
Land use 1999
5%
Interrelated problems
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Poverty
Lack of employment opportunities
Deforestation (charcoal, land clearing)
Overgrazing and land degradation
Low rainfed productivity
Over-fishing of lakes
Etc, etc. but most prominent…..
Falling water table Lake Abijata
250
km^2
200
150
100
50
0
1970
1980
1990
year
2000
2010
Research approach
Main research question: Cause of declining water tables?
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Stakeholder analysis (who are water users?)
Water consumption
Performance: Water, land and labor productivity of water users
Historical land use analysis
Relation between land use change and hydrology
Climate change and variability
Alternative livelihood strategies
Research methods
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Rapid rural appraisal
Survey floriculture a.o. on input use
Digitalization and analysis of climate data (20 stations)
Estimation of irrigation water use
Analysis of discharge data of rivers and lakes
Water balances for sub-catchments
Interpretation satellite images (land use classification)
Literature
Research approach
People
Public sector
Private sector
Science
Profit
Planet
NGO’s
Research approach: Stakeholder relationships
Society
Society
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Science: Interdisciplinary
science communication
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Primary stakeholders:
Concerned, directly involved
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Secundary stakeholders:
Concerned, not directly
involved
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Society: Societal
conditions, all other drivers
Secundary
Secundary stakeholders
stakeholders
Primary
Primary stakeholders
stakeholders
Science
Science
A dialogue
Research approach: Policy dialogue – collaboration
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Multi-stakeholder platform ‘Lake Ziway’
DGIS Horn of Africa program
Bilateral contacts with Dutch Embassy, MoW, LNV
Collaboration with Univ. of Addis Ababa, UTwente,
Norw. Univ of Life Sc.
Supervision/support of Ethiopian and Dutch students
Bill Gates-funded IDE-project on drip irrigation
Master Plan development for entire Rift Valley
Some results
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Increased intensification of land use
Irrigated smallholder/state farms are major water users
and reason for the drop in water tables
Rainfall decreased with 15% during 1996-2005, which
further contributed to declining water levels
Water & land productivity of rose production > 10 times
higher than irrigated smallholder production
Labor input (per ha) of rose production > 5 higher than in
irrigated smallholder production
Some results:
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Performance of irrigated smallholder production
highly variable.
Effect of increasing daily temperature (±1.5°C over
the past 30 years) on hydrology?
Effect of deforestation and erosion on hydrology?
Policy/research agenda
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Increase water use efficiency (drip, recirculation
systems).
Autonomous expansion of smallholder irrigation.
Pollution risks associated with greenhouse
production needs attention.
Expansion of greenhouse production will put
pressure on urban and social infrastructure.
Alternative livelihood strategies: tourism, rainfed
agriculture, fisheries/aquaculture, and Payment for
Environmental Services.
Thank you