ASSESSMENT OF SURFACE IRRIGATION POTENTIAL IN GILGEL ABBAY CATCHIMENT; ETHIOPIA. MSC THESIS RESEARCH

Abstract

Investigation of available water resources and potential irrigable land is essential for the development of irrigated agriculture. This study has focused on investigating land and water resources potential of Gilgel Abbay river catchment and preparing geo-referenced maps of these resources using GIS. Land suitability for irrigation development was identified by considering the irrigation suitability factors such as slope, soil, land use /land cover and proximity. Since the total irrigable land of the watershed is about 22.58% (86,961.24 ha) which is potentially suitable for surface irrigation and the rest one is classified as non-suitable (N). The annual average minimum flow of the river is estimated 28.094m 3 /s to be 37,169.61ha of land for surface irrigation system from total available land potential. The gross irrigation demand of selected crops for each month is computed for the scenario of starting sowing time analysis on November, December, January and February months.