Abstract:
Evaluating an irrigation system performance should measure and show the status and
effectiveness of the existing irrigation system. Continuous monitoring and evaluating
irrigation performance is labor intensive and not economical. However, datasets from FAO's
portal to monitor water productivity through open access remotely sensed derived data
(WaPOR) was applied as a cost-effective means to support irrigation performance
assessment and evaluation. However, there was no study on the performance evaluation of
Dondor irrigation Scheme. Thus, this study attempted to evaluate performance of Dondor
irrigation Scheme, using field and remote sensing data. The study was carried out during
irrigation season from November to March 2021/2022. Primary and secondary data’s were
collected from field, WaPOR2.1 source, meteorological station and literature. For analysis,
Cropwat for crop water and irrigation requirement and QGIS for WaPOR datasets were
used. The result of conveyance and application efficiency was 64.7 and 55.97%, respectively.
Overall scheme efficiency was 36.2 % which was not acceptable. The scheme was good in
adequacy, dependability, and equity but poor in water delivery efficiency and fair in overall
water delivery performance. From WaPOR source, result of adequacy, equity, uniformity,
and water productivity of scheme was (0.66 - 0.78 poor to acceptable), (9.3 -14.6% fair to
good), (85.4 - 90.7% excellent) and (0.89 - 1.34 kg/m3
), respectively. We conclude that
WaPOR-based was not labor intensive, time-saving, and economical for assessing irrigation
performance. All stakeholders must work together to minimize factors that affect the
performance of the irrigation system.
