Performance Evaluation Methods Widely Used to Assess Performance of Irrigation Scheme in Ethiopia

Abstract

Irrigation is the application of water to agricultural crops by artificial means, designed to permit  farming  in  arid  and  semi arid  regions  and  helped  to  increase  agricultural production  in  developing  countries .  Thus irrigation development particularly will be an important component of diversification and expansion strategy to strengthen food security in the future. Irrigation project development has both positive and negative impacts in the society and environment. Expanding efficient irrigation development on varies scales is one of the best alternative to provide reliable and sustainable food security. Irrigation scheme performance assessment is vital to evaluate the impacts of irrigation practices, to identify performance gaps and to improve system performances. However many irrigation schemes in developing countries in general and particularly in Ethiopia are performing below capacity. As a summary the selected minimum performance indicators which have employed for this paper were reviewed. Thus based on the selected performance indicators and their applications the selected internal and external performance evaluation indicators have been identified and benchmarked for the next study sections. The paper is prepared to understand irrigation performance evaluation indicators widely used to determined system performance and understand chance of comparing the system with another system that has different environment, infrastructure and climate in the region.

Keywords: Irrigation scheme, performance, efficiency, water, land, output, irrigation

DOI: 10.7176/CER/13-6-02

Publication date:September 30^th 2021