Using Rainwater for Off-Season Small-Scale Irrigation in Arid and Semi-arid Areas of Sub-Saharan Africa: Key Working Principles and Best Practices

Gomez, Josep de Trincheria; Dawit, Desalegn; Famba, Sebastião; Filho, Walter Leal; Malesu, Maimbo; Mussera, Paula Viola; Ngigi, Stephen N.; Niquice, Celma; Nyawasha, Rumbidzai; Oduor, Alex; Oguge, Nicholas; Oremo, Francis; Simane, Belay; Wuta, Menas

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-66239-8_2

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Thus, we rely only on a variety of publications covering different regions in Kenya to provide a discourse on the impact of the government's water policy in supporting the scaling up RWH systems across the country. RWH in the context of this paper is defined as a designed approach to collecting and storing rainwater on either small or large scales (De Trincheria et al, 2017). Further detailed explanations can be found in Aroka (2010), Oweis et al (2012), and Man'gera (2017), among others.…”

Section: Analytical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoption of rainwater harvesting as a sustainable approach to improving the climate resilience of small landholders in Kenya

Mutschinski

Coles

2023

World Water Policy

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The African Water Vision 2025 emphasized the disadvantages of the rural population in the context of water supply infrastructure, water management, and access. The vision extolled the virtues of providing improved decentralized governance and localized actions to deliver on this agenda. Furthermore, policies and investment should support climate resilience, by strengthening the security and availability of adequate water quality and quantity in rural communities, for example, by mainstreaming the adoption of rainwater harvesting systems. This is reflected in the government policy alignment towards enabling a devolution of responsibilities to regional and local political structures, while addressing concerns linked with water availability, climate change, and its impact on a country's water resources in Kenya. Despite efforts through different strategic plans and policies, there is a perceived gap between the general understanding of the importance of the RWH system at the national level and actions at the operational level in the counties. An absence of formal policy frameworks and coordination of investments has resulted in insufficient adoption and implementation of RWH systems in Kenya to date. This is despite the fact that in some counties, RWH systems are considered a key solution for increasing climate resilience and suggestions for improvement have been formulated by the affected communities. This analysis shows that RWH systems strengthen the resilience of rural populations but are dependent on a well‐formulated governmental structure, which could be improved by refining national policies and investment in RWH systems.

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Section: Analytical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoption of rainwater harvesting as a sustainable approach to improving the climate resilience of small landholders in Kenya

Mutschinski

Coles

2023

World Water Policy

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“…Adoption and integration of indigenous terraces (Fanya Juu and Fanya Chini) in soil conservation has enabled sustainable farming of high-sloped lands in arid and semi-arid regions (ASALs) of Kenya (Kassie et al, 2009;Wolka et al, 2018), thus making them prominent mechanical soil erosion management practices (SEMPs) (Critchley, 2010;Matere et al, 2016;de Trincheria Gomez et al, 2018). Their contribution to crop yield and soil health is widely recognized, for instance; Saiz et al (2016) reported that use of Fanya Juu terraces in drylands increases yield by more than 25% and soil organic matter by a third.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of land rehabilitation measures on soil organic carbon fractions in semi-arid environment

Mutio

Kebeney²,

Njoroge³

et al. 2023

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Soil erosion threatens the sustainable intensification of food systems among smallholder farmers in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). Intensifying adoption of soil mitigation and rehabilitation measures is thus needed urgently in these ASALs, but scaling up these measures depends on scientific evidence of their contributions to key components of sustainable intensification such as soil organic carbon. However, there is no information on how existing mitigation and rehabilitation measures influence soil carbon fractions and carbon management indices in ASALs. This study evaluated the influence of soil erosion mitigation and rehabilitation measures on soil carbon fractions and management indices in Arenic Lixisols of semi-arid environments in West Pokot County, Kenya. We evaluated different vegetation types (maize-beans intercrop and pastures) with and without two locally developed terrace designs for soil conservation (Fanya Juu and Fanya Chini). Combining terracing with annual cropping significantly increased total organic carbon (TOC). The highest TOC (13 g C kg−1) was recorded in pasturelands with terraces while degraded land with no intervention was found to have the lowest TOC (6.0 g C kg−1). Terraced farms with longer residence time (>4 years old) had significantly higher organic carbon than (<4 years old). Other soil properties remained stable with terrace age (1–5 years). Labile SOC and non-labile SOC differed significantly within and across vegetation types with or without terraces (p < 0.05). Pasture and crop systems with terraces had high labile SOC content of 5.9 g C kg−1 and 7.2 g C kg−1, respectively. Labile SOC followed the TOC trend with terrace age, i.e., increasing from 1 year to 5 years old. Combined pasture and terraces had a significantly higher carbon management index (CMI) of 161.7, or 14 times the CMI found in degraded systems with no interventions and 1.5 times the combined crop system with terraces. CMI was also directly correlated with residence time terraces had stayed in the crop system, increasing from 1 year to 5 years old. Contrary to CMI and other indices, the weighted enrichment ratio was found to inversely correlate with age of terrace. Improvement of carbon content and CMI resulted from restorative measures and likely improved soil quality and ecosystem functions. Although terraces play a significant role in the restoration of degraded soils as indicated by the above-mentioned changes, they are most beneficial when used in combination with croplands because of the high level of disturbance and flows of both inputs and outputs of carbon for these croplands.

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“…The rainfall pattern of the country also shows high level of variations [ 5 ]. In the semiarid areas, rainwater is available in abundance during the rainy season and surpasses the evapotranspiration during the three months between July and September [ 6 ]. The rain is very poorly distributed in both spatial and temporal terms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Small-Scale Farmers Understand Rain Water Harvesting Technology? Evidence from Northern Ethiopia

Mengistu

2021

The Scientific World Journal

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The study examined farmers’ perceptions and adoption of rain water harvesting technology in Raya-Alamata district of Ethiopia. Four kebeles were purposively selected from the 13 homogeneous kebeles (small administrative unit). During the survey, primary data were collected through a semistructured questionnaire distributed to 270 systematically selected sample respondents and through interview with key informants, development agents, and local administrators. Secondary data were retrieved from district agriculture office, books, and published scientific materials. Descriptive statistics, simple narration, and a probit regression model were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the farmers perceived rain water harvesting as a motivational way of creating sense of belongingness. They think that it increases crop production, increases forest regeneration, and encourages forage production. The probit regression models revealed that determinants of farmers’ adoption of rainwater harvesting technology were significantly and positively affected by education, farm size, and off-farm income. The effect of distance to the farmland and farmers training center (FTC) was also significant but negative. Men farmers had higher level of adoption compared to their counterparts. Productive and reproductive roles constrain women household farmers from using the technologies. Based on the finding, the policy implications were as follows: dissemination of information related to rain water harvesting technology should be imperative through formal and informal education. Alternative sources of water need also be promoted. More importantly, female-headed households need to be encouraged to be community leaders to foster the adoption of rain water harvesting technology.

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Using Rainwater for Off-Season Small-Scale Irrigation in Arid and Semi-arid Areas of Sub-Saharan Africa: Key Working Principles and Best Practices

Cited by 4 publications

References 9 publications

Adoption of rainwater harvesting as a sustainable approach to improving the climate resilience of small landholders in Kenya

Adoption of rainwater harvesting as a sustainable approach to improving the climate resilience of small landholders in Kenya

Effect of land rehabilitation measures on soil organic carbon fractions in semi-arid environment

How Small-Scale Farmers Understand Rain Water Harvesting Technology? Evidence from Northern Ethiopia

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