Water Productivity, Farmers Satisfaction, and Sustainability of Selected Small Scale Irrigation Schemes in Salale Zone, Ethiopia

In order to assess the potential, farmers satisfaction, and operation and maintenance issues of selected small scale irrigation schemes in Salale Zone Ethiopia, the study was designed with key objectives of evaluating the current status of irrigation water productivity of the schemes; irrigation water users satisfaction, and structures, function, and power of water users association in sustainable operation and maintenance of irrigation schemes. Structured questionnaires focus group discussion, and key informant interview was employed to collect data for each considered irrigation schemes and the data was analyzed by using SPSS and descriptive statistics. The result overall revealed that there was low water productivity of the schemes when it was compared with acceptable limit values. In each considered irrigation scheme, irrigation water users were not satisfied in operation and maintenance of irrigation schemes and less satisfied in fair distribution of water and timeline of water distribution; but fairly satisfied in fee policy. From the perspectives of roles of irrigation water users in leadership, resource mobilization, infrastructure management, equity in water distribution, and conflict management; there was a gap in effectively performing all such activities so that the overall productivity of schemes becomes very low. In general, the research indicated that there was a problem in improving water productivity, farmers’ satisfaction, role of irrigation water users in management, operation, and maintenance of schemes which need due consideration to sustain small scale irrigation schemes so that it will play the intended roles in attaining food security