  Spate irrigation, a flood water harvesting and management system, is a century old in the Eastern Lowlands of Eritrea. It has largely remained a low external input system with hardly any externally supplied inputs in terms of fertilizers, herbicides, post-harvest technologies, operation and maintenance, water harvesting and sharing rules, to mention, but a few. The system currently covers about 17,000 ha; its potential is estimated at 90, 000 ha, which is nearly one third of the total irrigable area in Eritrea. It is one of the major sources of livelihood for about a quarter of the 3 million rural poor farmers who mainly grow sorghum as their major crop.
Sorghum is highly productive under the spate irrigated agriculture in the Eastern Lowlands of Eritrea. In a good flood season, farmers harvest up to 4.5 ton ha-1y-1 - advisory literature suggests a maximum sorghum yield of 5 ton ha-1y-1 under non-restricted water and climatic conditions (FAO, 1998). In an effort to maintain the high level of productivity of sorghum under drought conditions - spate flows are unreliable in amount, duration and occurrence - the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of Eritrea has, as part of its plant breeding activities, been striving to identify sorghum varieties that have a well established root system that can extract deep seated residual soil moisture. One such a variety is Hijeri, which has consistently excelled in delivering good yield under extreme drought conditions when very limited soil moisture is stored within the rootzone profile. In spate irrigation systems, the flood/irrigation period precedes the crop production season and the crops complete their entire growth cycle based on residual moisture.
A local MoA extension worker, with his own initiative and a borrowed camera, has, over the past 2 years taken some images over a full growth period of Hijeri. The Centre for Information on Low External Input and Sustainable Agriculture (ILEIA) and the Spate Irrigation Network (SpN) are, since October, 2007 working together to ensure the proper finalization of this important video documentation and dissemination as well as documentation of the documentation process. The project is expected to be completed by February 2008.
The tenets of this project, which the SpN considers a start for long-term cooperation with ILEIA, are very much akin to the shared visions and missions of the two institutions. ILEIA strives to promote the exchange of information for small-scale farmers through identifying promising technologies involving no or only marginal external inputs, but building on local farmers’ knowledge and traditional technologies. The SpN activities include liaison with relevant organizations such as ILEIA to document good local practices with the view to initiate need-driven pragmatic research and development in spate irrigation as well as sharing and dissemination of these practices through electronic platform, workshops, tailor-made training modules and other applicable media outlets.
 Read "Filming Sorghum",
by Karim Nawaz, Spate Irrigation Network
Read the interview with Mr. K.E.
|