PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF DONDOR SMALL SCALE IRRIGATION SCHEME USING FIELD AND REMOTE SENSING DATA: AT GUANGUA DISTRICT, IN AMHARA REGION.

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.