Rainfall in Ethiopia
is highly erratic, varying from high intensity storms in highland areas to
scare fleeting rainfall in dry and semi-arid areas. Rain water and harvesting technologies
are important to ensure that farmers are able to combat frequent drought, and
use multiple water sources during annual droughts and intermittent dry spells. Fethia
Ahmed, Junior expert in Agricultural Water Management at the IFAD Ethiopia Country
office shares her experiences after attending the RAIN Foundation’s learning
exchange workshop in February 2014.
RAIN Foundation,
in partnership with the Ethiopian Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Alliance,
Mekelle University and Metameta, organized a five-day workshop to discuss their
experiences of promoting rain water harvesting technologies from different
sector to share lessons learned and best practices. It was
interesting to view and learn about affordable and less labor-intensive
innovations and measures that can be used to prevent destructive run off within watersheds and to rehabilitate degraded lands. The displayed water technologies all had common
features; they could feasibly retain rain water, recharges
ground water sources and can be used as a water source for multiple uses. The technologies were introduced to the community in a
participatory manner and are highly accessible to beneficiaries because they
are affordable and promote the sustainable use of water. We
hope to incorporate these technologies into ongoing projects in Ethiopia.
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| A Check dam
built to prevent run-off from deepening the gully below |
Not limiting discussions to the classroom, we had the chance
to visit various locations within Mekele region. We learned how to identify
appropriate technologies and participatory methods to ensure that promoted
technologies are chosen with the engagement of the community. This is important
to make certain that the design suits their needs as it does not take too much
effort to draw water and the source may be used for agricultural,
livestock or household water uses. The most significant lesson learned was how communities have
actively implemented natural resources management practices to revive the dry
lands. Community members have a vital role to maintain conserved and
rehabilitated degraded lands. They are the first to experience the negative
impacts of land degradation and have become acutely aware of human practices
that intensify land degradation.
In Aguale watershed, young people in the community have been
motivated to engage in soil and water conservation methods to ensure they have
fertile and healthy soils to farm on in the future.
Natural resource management projects in the region have brought about
significant change, as the community now encourages young people to participate
in conservation practices to ensure the continuation of these practices in the
future. They now strive to ensure that
everyone in the community is part of the land transformation. Over the past 20 years, the community has
revived their watershed into a lush green valley. In fact, increased water
percolation has created new water sources that are now used to irrigate
agricultural land.
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| A hand dug well, which uses a motor pump to life out the water to
irrigate lands and for general water use |
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| The motor pump drawing water out of a hand dug well into an irrigation canal, which waters farms. |