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POVERTY, LIVELIHOOD RISKS AND COPIES STRATEGIES IN SPATE IRRIGATION
SYSTEMS
1 INTRODUCTION
Spate irrigation is mainly practiced in arid and semi-arid areas
of the world, such as the Middle East, Northern and Western Africa,
the Horn of Africa, South and Central Asia as well as parts of
Latin America , where rainfall is too low for rainfed agriculture.
Spate irrigation is a type of irrigation where flash floods with
short duration coming from mountainous catchment areas are diverted
from the riverbeds to irrigate arable land.
In Pakistan, spate irrigation is practiced for a very long period
and it was one of the most important agricultural systems until
the end of the 18th century when the development of perennial
irrigation started under the British colonial administration.
In the Province of Balochistan, there is evidence that spate
irrigation was practiced as early as 3,000 BC, whereas in the
North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Punjab the first
spate irrigation systems were developed 330 BC. (Ahmad 2000)
In Yemen, spate water is used for irrigation purposes for at
least three millenniums and it may even date back to the third
millennium BC in the Marib area. (Al-Garoo 1987, Wilkinson 200?)
Spate water from about 260 wadis in the north-west coastal region
of Egypt is used for irrigation since the Roman times, while
spate irrigation has been practised in Morocco since ancient
times as well. (Moustafa 1987, Zaqhloel 1987) In Eritrea, spate
irrigation only started at the beginning of the 20th century
by Yemeni migrants from across the Red Sea. In central Tunisia,
farmers irrigate their fields with diverted spate water since
the second half of the 19th century. (Van Mazijk 1988)
It is difficult to give exact figures about the area under spate
irrigation, because it changes from year to year and spate irrigation
has never had the same amount of attention from governments and
donors as perennial irrigation. According to FAO, Pakistan and
Kazakhstan have large areas under spate irrigation with 1.4 million
ha and 1.1 million ha respectively, although an estimated area
of 2.0 million ha in Pakistan is also mentioned. In Eritrea,
about 50% to 55% of the total irrigated area was under spate
irrigation, while about one-third of the total irrigated area
in Kazakhstan and Mongolia comprised spate irrigation. In Yemen,
the reported spate-irrigated area ranged between 20% and 40%
of the total irrigated area. Reportedly, about 90,000 ha, which
accounts for 25% of the total irrigated area in Yemen, is covered
by modernized spate irrigation system, while around 30,000 ha
is commanded by traditional spate schemes. (FAO Aquastat, Hadera
2001, Kohler 1999) An overview of information about spate-irrigated
areas in different countries is presented in Table 1 in Annex
A.
Spate irrigation has unpredictable water supplies and low levels
of agricultural production. Spate hydrology is characterised
by a great variation in the size and frequency of floods from
year to year and season to season, which directly influence the
availability of water for agriculture in any one season. Consequently,
cropped areas and crop production vary considerably over the
years. (Camacho 1987) Downstream sections often do not receive
any spate flows at all for one or more consecutive years. Flash
floods and heavy siltation are constant threats to the sustainability
of the irrigation infrastructure. The financial returns to spate-irrigated
agriculture are relatively low and maintenance costs are high
compared with perennial irrigation.
Spate irrigation is very risk-prone due to the following reasons:
- floods are unpredictable due to the irregularity of rainfall;
- diversion structures are often destroyed by large floods;
- changes to the riverbeds, including degradation of the level
of the riverbed and changes in the course of the riverbed,
due to large floods;
- serious erosion and loss of land in command area due to
large uncontrolled floods entering the distribution system;
- conveyance of spate water is restricted due to the deposit
of large amounts of sediment in the canals; and
- fields get out of command as their levels raise due to the
deposit of silt.
Despite its unreliability, risks and relatively low financial
returns, spate irrigation is important for the livelihoods of
a significant number of rural households, who often belong to
the poorest, in various countries with arid and semi-arid climates.
Spate irrigation must reward the farmers for their investments
as they are prepared to invest their labour and money in the
operation and maintenance of the diversion structures and canal
systems. In Eritrea, about 350,000 persons or 10% of the total
population rely for their livelihood on spate-irrigated agriculture.
(Hadera 2001) Spate irrigation provides a livelihood for about
0.5 million people in the relatively poorer coastal areas of
Yemen. (World Bank 2000b)
2 LIVELIHOOD AND POVERTY
2.1 Concept of Livelihood
A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets and activities
required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when
it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks as well
as maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and
in the future without undermining the natural resource base.
Livelihoods are built upon the following five assets: human capital,
social capital, natural capital, physical capital and financial
capital. Secure access to these assets, which can take the form
of ownership or the right to use, is essential to achieve a secure
and sustainable livelihood.
Livelihood strategies refers to the range and combination of
activities and choices that people undertake and make in order
to achieve their livelihood goals, including productive activities,
investment strategies and reproductive choices. There is an enormous
diversity of livelihood strategies within geographic areas, across
sectors, within households and over time. Livelihood strategies
are dynamic processes, in which people combine activities to
meet their various needs at different times and under varying
circumstances. For the execution of agricultural activities,
for example, people may need the following assets:
- labour force and particular skills (human capital);
- cash, inputs and equipment (financial capital);
- good infrastructure (physical capital);
- land and water (natural capital); and
- access to certain groups of people for acquiring certain
services, such as credit or advice (social capital).
People’s access to different levels and combinations of
assets is probably the major influence on their choice of livelihood
strategies. (DFID 1999)
2.2 Poverty in Spate-Irrigated Areas
The standard of living of the majority of farm households in
the Sheeb area (Eritrea) is low. During bad years, the crop production
of most farming households is only sufficient to satisfy their
food consumption for not more than 3 months. In a normal year,
less than 40% of the households produce enough food for the entire
year. The estimated net farm income for a typical farming household
in a good year is about US$ 520, of which US$ 355 from crop production
and US$ 165 from livestock products, while their estimated expenditures
are US$ 700 per year. Based on an average household size of six
persons, the per capita income is about US$ 86 per year. In a
year with insufficient floods, the estimated net farm income
drops to only US$ 105 or US$ 17.5 per capita. In such years,
the households reduce their expenditures as much as possible.
According to a socio-economic study conducted in 1997, the estimated
average income of a typical farmer ranged between ETB 4,300 and
7,000, of which ETB 2,100 to 4,000 from agricultural sales, ETB
700 to 1,800 from livestock sales and ETB 1,200 to 3,500 from
wage labour. The total average expenditures varied from ETB 5,700
to 8,000, so that most households spent more than their incomes.
(Hadera 2000, Halcrow 1997)
Households in the spate-irrigated areas belong to the poorest
sections of Balochistan’s society in Pakistan. An average
household would receive a net benefit of around Rs 1,000 or about
US$ 35 per annum per household member. In the Toiwar scheme in
Killa Saifullah District, an average household with about 1.7
ha accrues two-third of its agricultural income from crop production
and one-third from livestock. Based on a cropping pattern of
1.2 ha of wheat, 0.4 ha of barley and 0.1 ha of maize and mash,
the gross revenue is Rs 16,709 (US$ 360), of which Rs 13,780
as grain and Rs 2,929 as straw, whereas the production costs
are estimated at Rs 2,884 (US$ 62). The net revenue from spate-irrigated
agriculture for an average household is Rs 13,825 or about US$
300 per year. (Halcrow 1993a, 1998)
In the spate-irrigated areas of the Shabwah Governorate in Yemen,
the sale of live animals and livestock products is the main source
of income for most households, while the sale of fodder, wage
labour and remittances from family members working abroad are
important sources of income as well. Crop surpluses are only
sold in good years. It is estimated that the total net annual
revenue of a nuclear household with only access to spate water
is about YR 70,000 (US$ 412), whereas the net annual revenues
for households with access to pump irrigation range between YR
130,000 (US$ 765) and YR 170,000 (US$ 1,000). As the per capita
rural incomes vary from YR 9,000 (US$ 53) to YR 21,000 (US$ 124)
per year, the majority of the population in the Shabwah Governorate
has less than US$ 1 per day, which is considered as a minimum
living standard by the UN. (KIT 2002)
In 2000, 28% of the households in Wadi Tuban and 35% in Wadi
Zabid in Yemen lived below the poverty line of US$ 203 per year.
According to a socio-economic baseline survey, 58% of the sample
households in Wadi Zabid considered agriculture as their main
source of income, whereas farming was only the main source of
income for 29% of the sample households in Wadi Tuban. (World
Bank 2000b, IIP 2002)
In general, many farming households in spate-irrigated areas
are poor as their annual incomes from spate-irrigated agriculture
and other sources of income (i.e. livestock, wage labour) are
low and often insufficient to satisfy the food requirements of
the household throughout the entire year. A significant proportion
of households in spate-irrigated areas live below the poverty
line. The inherent risk of crop failure due to the unpredictability
of spate irrigation makes the livelihoods of many farming households
in spate-irrigated areas very vulnerable.
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