Evaluating land suitability and water availability for surface irrigation in the Abbay basin of Ethiopia

This study was conducted in the Abbay basin of Ethiopia to evaluate land suitability for irrigation considering both surface and groundwater sources using the analytic hierarchy process. Multiple factors which affect irrigated agriculture productivity were considered, and an 85% threshold was applied to identify irrigable land. The suitability result was validated using ground truth data from existing irrigation projects for surface water sources and depth to groundwater data for groundwater sources. The low flow potential of rivers, which is dependable for surface irrigation, was evaluated against suitable land considering the most dominant crops. The result showed that nearly 10% of the basin area (19 192 km2) and 5.3% of the basin (10 364 km2) were found suitable for surface irrigation from rivers and groundwater, respectively. South Gojam was found to be the most suitable sub-basin (approx. 3880 km2) for surface irrigation, whereas Muger was found to be the most suitable sub-basin (approx. 2105 km2) for surface irrigation from rivers and groundwater, respectively. Depth to groundwater was shallow for Muger as compared with other sub-basins. The validation result depicted more than 83% and 73% overlap for surface and groundwater sources, respectively. Land suitability and water availability assessment result in the Abbay basin shows a promising result for surface irrigation developments.

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