Report 2 (of 7): Pumps Pipes and Predators

Introduction

Food security is a constant concern in Somalia. The farming community has been adversely affected by civil conflict and the damage it has caused. In addition, the farmers also have to cope with the unpredictable and unreliable climate.

The Hiraan region in Somalia covers an area of 34,000 square kilometres and has a predominantly arid climate with very low annual rainfall. The only permanent river, the Shabelle River, is of utmost importance as most of the region’s agricultural land is situated along the river bank.

Farmers living in Hiraan have used irrigation schemes for generations but six years of civil war, looting and destruction have left buildings, dikes and pumps devastated. The region has been constantly deficient in crop production over the past few years because of the loss of irrigated farmland during the war. More than 100 large irrigation schemes with capacities of several thousand hectares have been forced out of production.

Before the war, dozens of irrigation schemes had been established in the region and pump-fed irrigation was the most popular form of agriculture. Since the conflict, rain-fed production has become the most common form of crop production.

The Intervention of the International Committee of the Red Cross

The irrigation schemes in operation in the Hiraan region ranged from small private schemes covering less than one hectare to large government funded schemes covering more than 500 hectares. Although some of these schemes are still operational, most of the community owned pumps have been destroyed, leaving thousands of hectares of land no longer being utilised for irrigated agriculture. However, most of the irrigation structures and canals are more or less intact and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has set up a rehabilitation programme to work with communities to renovate their old irrigation schemes.

The irrigation systems have functioned successfully in the past and the communities already have the required expertise for operating them but the farmers cannot raise the capital to replace the irrigation pumps that were destroyed or looted during the war. The canal schemes which were built in the 1980's have fallen into disrepair over the last few years and, in most cases, the pumps operating them have either been looted or destroyed. Community elders have organised teams to clean and rebuild the canals while the ICRC has provided new and specially adapted pumps. A ‘food-for-work’ scheme was set up for the labourers.

The newly installed pumps draw water from the Shabelle River, through newly-rehabilitated canals, into large basins which occur naturally in the area. A two man team then dig ridges into the circumference of the basins using a wood and rope plough. This allows the water supply to run down into the fields causing them to flood. Once the water has permeated the soil, the farmers can start to plant their crops.

The irrigation systems will irrigate over 1,600 hectares of farmland in the Belet Weyn and Jalalaqsi districts of Hiraan and about 3,000 farming families will benefit as a result.

The Role of Irrigation

A local type of sorghum is the most commonly planted crop, with beans, sesame, maize and other crops being far less common. Locally irrigated agriculture increases production security and allows farmers to grow a wider variety of crops, such as maize, as well as sorghum.

Irrigation enables communities to be more self reliant in their own agricultural production, giving them the opportunity to be less dependent on food and seed distributions in times of low rainfall. It also improves the availability of food in the region through additional agricultural production, especially in times of poor rains. This in turn leads to the creation of a better economic base for the families involved and gives them a chance to improve their livelihoods.

The Size of Irrigation Schemes

Medium scale irrigation schemes have the potential to allow between 300 to 500 hectares of land to be cultivated for irrigated crop production.

Small scale irrigation schemes usually have a potential of approximately 20 hectares of land to be cultivated for irrigated crop production.

The irrigation systems in the Hiraan region of Somalia, whether small or medium scale, are pump-fed, using a diesel engine to lift water from the Shabelle River into an open water conveyance system, through main and feeder channels, into the basins.

Water User Associations

The Water User Associations coordinate and implement all the community based rehabilitation activities and the management activities, with the assistance and support of ICRC. The main channels of the old irrigation structures are being repaired and rehabilitated with limited support from the ICRC in the few places where the use of a bulldozer/loader is required. The Water User Associations also assist ICRC with the installation of the modified irrigation pumps. ICRC is training pump operators and will provide technical support and follow up for at least one year.

The irrigation pumps remain the property of ICRC for a season and if, after that time, the Water User Association has made proper use of the pump-sets, they will be handed over to the association. However, ICRC reserves the right to withdraw the pump, at any time, in the case of serious misconduct or gross misuse. The Water User Associations provide the fuel for the pumps and pay a nominal fee for maintenance costs.

Pest Control Programme

As well as the irrigation system programme, the ICRC have other projects underway linked to food security in the Hiraan region. Once the irrigation schemes are operating, the farmers are faced with other threats to their produce from pests like the stemborer which ravages the crops.

A new pest control programme has been set up which involves the release of thousands of tiny predatory wasps to help combat the threat posed by the stemborer to the crops. The wasps are the natural predator of the stemborer and can be used instead of pesticides. The adult wasps lay their eggs inside the larva of the stemborer. This kills it and after a few days 30-40 wasps emerge having eaten the larva from the inside out.

Intermediate Technology would like to thank the International Committee of the Red Cross for providing the original material on the rehabilitation of irrigation systems in the region of Hiraan in Somalia and for funding the project.

Visit the website of the ICRC at  http://www.icrc.org/ (English) or  http://www.cicr.org/ (French)

Further reading available from ITDG Development Bookshop

Buried Pipelines for Surface Irrigation
Robert van Bentum and Ian Smout
A guide to the use of low-pressure pipelines instead of canals for the distribution of irrigation water. Highlights the local techniques using local industries, and the areas where these techniques are appropriate.
£15.95 1994 208pp pb (ITP) ISBN 1853391875

Hill Irrigation: Water and development in mountain agriculture
Linden Vincent
Mountain agriculture has attracted attention both for its complex adaptation to particular circumstances, and for its marginality and instability in a changing world. Irrigation plays a range of roles in mountain farming systems and their dynamics or change. Hill Irrigation examines the environmental constraints and socio-economic contexts to successful mountain agriculture, and reviews the policies and technological approaches used to promote irrigation in different mountain regions. This survey is accompanied by a detailed bibliography of over 500 entries of literature on the subject.
£13.95 1995 232pp pb (ITP) ISBN 1853391719
 

TVE/ Practical Action gratefully acknowledge support for the HANDS ON programmes from the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission (EC), the UN Foundation and UNDP/The Equator Initiative in collaboration with the Government of Canada, IDRC, IUCN, BrasilConnects and the Nature Conservancy.