Raising irrigation productivity and releasing water for intersectoral needs (RIPARWIN)

Project goal: “Improved Availability of Water for Sustainable Food Production and Rural Development”.

Project purpose:

“Benefits for poor people, the environment and other river basin stakeholders increased by application of new knowledge to the enhancement of productivity of irrigation and transference of water to meet other sectoral needs”

Specific objectives:

1. Enhance the understanding by stakeholders of water management, competition, use and irrigation productivity under different management, climatic and seasonal scenarios & variability.
2. Enhance the understanding by stakeholders of water demands of other sectors (e.g. environment, domestic, and livestock); both net and gross demands under different management, climatic and seasonal scenarios. Special recognition taken of water needs of poor people.
3. Greater understanding by stakeholders of means and potential to transfer water between sectors on the basis of improved irrigation management and productivity, and by using other water management tools and processes. Greater understanding of impacts arising out of water transfer away from irrigation particularly on poor people.
4. Enhance the   understanding   by water professionals of river basin characteristics, climatic & allocation means, risks and typologies within semi- arid climates through production of a river basin management decision-aide.
5. Enhance the capacity of Tanzanian water- related researchers and professionals in irrigation and water management within a multi-sectoral environment. As a result of greater capacity for managing water, water needs for poor people recognised and planned for.

Key findings:

1. Over a period of five years, the RIPARWIN project investigated water management in the Rufiji River basin and evaluated the effectiveness of some of the mechanisms that had been introduced. The project found that, while in theory increasing irrigation water efficiency is a good idea and it is technically feasible, it proved very difficult to achieve in practice. To date, changes to irrigation infrastructure have seemingly compounded water shortages. Changes in institutional and management arrangements, particularly the canal closure program, have had some impact but there is still a long way to go to achieve the objective of returning the Great Ruaha River to year- round flow. Problems of water conflict and environmental degradation have not yet been resolved. In summary, the following specific findings were derived:
2. Under certain circumstances, improving local irrigation efficiency is important because, by reducing non-beneficial losses, water can be liberated for other uses;
3. Care is needed  in  the  development  of   irrigation   infrastructure   intended to increase catchment level water productivity since, if inappropriately designed and managed, it can have the opposite effect;
4. Economic efficiency is a necessary, but not sufficient, criteria for determining water allocation;
5. In situations where withdrawals are vital for livelihoods and poverty  alleviation, it is not reasonable to plan to fully implement environmental flows and it may be necessary to manage trade-offs between different ecosystems;
6. Although   care   is    necessary    not   to perpetuate past inequities, the effectiveness of contemporary approaches to  water  management may be improved if built on traditional arrangements which tend to be better suited to the livelihood strategies and social norms of local people; and
7. Different types of decision support systems that improve understanding of system dynamics and facilitate social learning and dialogue can contribute to better water resource management. At a time when irrigation is being strongly promoted as a significant contributor to attaining the Millennium Development Goals, the findings are relevant to catchments in developing countries where there is competition for water and irrigation is one of the main uses.

Outputs:

1. Cour, ;  Kadigi,  R.;  Kashaigili,   J. J.; Rajabu, K.; Lankford, B.A. 2006. Water Productivity Table.Methodology and Results. RIPARWIN report. RIPARWIN. Soil Water Management Research Group, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania. 8 pp. Cour, J. 2005.Ruaha Basin Decision Aid user manual. RIPARWIN report.
2. Franks, T.; Lankford, B.; Mdemu,M. 2004. Managing water amongst competing uses: The Usangu Wetland in Tanzania. Irrigation and Drainage 53(3): 277-286.
3. Hamerlynck, O. 2001. Rufiji River Basin Upstream Downstream Linkages – Report of the Workshop held at Morogoro, March 26-28, 2001. Rufiji Environmental Management Project, Tanzania.
4. Kadigi, R.M.J.; Mdoe, N.S.; Lankford, B.A.; Morardet, S. 2005. The  value  of water for irrigated paddy and hydropower generation in the Great Ruaha, Tanzania. In: Proceedings of the East Africa Integrated River Basin Management Conference, March 7-9, 2005, eds.
5. Lankford, B. A.; Mahoo, H.F. Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. 265 – 278 pp.
6. Kashaigili, J.J.; Mbilinyi, B.P.; McCartney, M.; Mwanuzi, F.L. 2006a. Dynamics of Usangu Plains Wetlands: Use of remote sensing and GIS as management decision tools. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 31(15-16): 967-975.
7. Kashaigili, J.J.; McCartney, M.P.; Mahoo, H. F.; Lankford, B.A.; Mbilinyi, B.P.; Yawson, K.D.; Tumbo, S.D. 2006b. Use of a hydrological model for environmental management of the Usangu Wetlands, Tanzania. IWMI Research   Report      Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute. 48 pp.
8. Kashaigili, J.J.; Mahoo, H.F. 2005. Towards valuation of wetlands in the Usangu Plains for environmental management: Livelihoods issues and perceptions. Presented at the 6th WATERNET/WARFSA held in Ezulwini, Swaziland, November 2-4, 2005.
9. Kashaigili, J.J. 2003. Current utilization and benefits gained from wetlands in the Usangu Plains. RIPARWIN Report HRPWET3.
10. Kayombo, W.C. 2007. Effectiveness of the River Basin Game in facilitating equitable allocation of water in the Mkoji subcatchment of the Great Ruaha River, Tanzania.MSc Dissertation. Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.80 pp.
11. Lankford, B.A. 2007. Integrated, adaptive and domanial water resources management. Paper accepted for International Conference on Adaptive and Integrated Water Resources Management. CAIWA, November 12– 15, 2007. Basel, Switzerland.
12. Lankford, B.A.; Mwaruvanda, W. 2006.Legal infrastructure framework for catchment apportionment. In: Community-based water law and water resource management reform in developing countries, eds. Van Koppen, B.; Butterworth, J.; Juma, I. CABI Publishing.
13. Lankford, B.A.; Watson, D. 2006.Exploring metaphor in natural resource gaming: Insights from the River Basin Game. In: Symposium issue of Simulation and Gaming, eds. Barrateau, O.; Etienne, M.; Le Page, C.; Perez, P.
14. Lankford, B.A.; van Koppen, B.; Franks, T.; Mahoo, H. 2004a. Entrenched views or insufficient science? Contested causes and solutions of water allocation; insights from the Great Ruaha River Basin, Tanzania. Agricultural Water Management 69: 135-153
15. Lankford, B.A.; Sokile, C.S.; Yawson, D.K.; Lévite, H. 2004b. The river basin game: A water dialogue tool. IWMI Working Paper 75. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute.
16. Lankford, B.A. 2004a. Irrigation improvement projects in Tanzania; scale impacts and policy implications. Water Policy 6(2): 89-102.
17. Lankford, B.A. 2004b. Resource centered thinking in river basins: Should we revoke the crop water requirement approach to irrigation planning? Agricultural Water Management 68: 33- 46.
18. xviii)Machibya, M.; Mdemu, M. 2005. Comparsion assessment of water use and damage between modern and traditional rice irrigation schemes: Case of Usangu Basin, Tanzania. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2: 335-342.
19. Machibya, M. 2003. Challenging established concepts of irrigation efficiency in a water scarce river basin: a case study of the Usangu Basin, Tanzania. PhD thesis, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
20. Machibya, M.; Lankford, B.; Mahoo,H. 2003.Real or imagined water competition?The case of rice irrigation in the Usangu basin and Mtera/Kidatu hydropower, Tanzania. In: Hydro Africa 2003, CD Proceedings, Arusha, Tanzania, November 17-19.
21. Mdemu, V.;  Magayane,  M.D. 2005. Conflict of water use between hydropower and irrigation in Tanzania: The conundrum of sectoral policy approaches to water resources development. Unpublished paper.28 pp.
22. Mehari, A.; van Koppen, B.; McCartney, M.P.; Lankford, B.A. 2007. Unchartered innovation? Local reforms of national formal water management in the Mkoji sub-catchment, Tanzania Paper submitted to Water Policy Journal. Forthcoming.
23. Rajabu, K.R.M.; Mahoo, H.F.; Sally, H.; Mashauri, D.A. 2005. Water abstraction and use patterns and  their implications on downstream river flows: A case study of Mkoji Sub- catchment in Tanzania.  Proceedings of the East Africa Integrated River Basin Management Conference, eds. Lankford, B.A.; Mahoo, H. F. March 7 – 9, 2005, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. pp. 233-245.
24. RIPARWIN (Raising Irrigation Productivity  and  Releasing   Water for Intersectoral Needs). 2006. Final Technical Report. Knowledge and Research   (KAR   R8064).   Report   to the Department of International Development (DFID), UK.
25. SWMRG (Soil Water Management Research Group). 2004. Comprehensive assessment of water resources of the Mkoji sub catchment, its uses and productivity. Soil Water Management Research Group, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. Report to the Comprehensive Assessment. 143 pp.
26. Sokile, C.; van Koppen, B. 2004. Managing the business: potential and pitfalls of water rights and water tariffs in allocating and managing water in water stressed basins: the cans of Rufiji Basin in Tanzania. World Water Congress and Exhibition, Marrakech September 19-24, 2004.
27. Sokile, C.S.; van Koppen, B. 2003. Local Water  Rights  and  Local Water User Entities: The Unsung  Heroines to Water Resource Management in Tanzania. In: WARFSA/WATERnet Symposium Proceedings, Gabarone, Botswana, October 15-17, 2003.
28. van Koppen, B.; Sokile, C.; Shah, T.n.d. Formal water law in informal rural economies: Some evidence of impacts in the Upper Ruaha Catchment, Tanzania. Draft IWMI Working Paper. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute. Unpublished Report.
29. van Koppen, B.; Sokile, C.S.; Hatibu, N.; Lankford, B.A.; Mahoo, H.; Yanda, P.Z. 2004. Formal water rights in rural Tanzania: Deepening the Dichotomy? IWMI Working Paper 71.  Colombo,  Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute.
30. Vounaki, T.; Lankford, B. A. 2006. Feasibility of a legal-infrastructural framework; insights for the dry season from the Mkoji Sub-catchment, Tanzania. Fieldwork Report for the RIPARWIN project.
31. Lankford, C. Sokile, D.  Yawson  and H. Lévite (2004) The River Basin Game: A Water Dialogue Tool ISBN 92-9090-564-6 Copyright © 2004, by IWMI. All rights reserved.