Constructability Criteria for Farmland Reclamation and Vegetable Cultivation Using Micro-Dam Sediments in Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract

The Ethiopian agriculture sector is characterized by rain-fed smallholder systems. The Ethiopian Government has promoted micro-dam construction in micro-watershed in Tigray for the past two decades. The lack of proper conservation measures to control severe soil erosion at the micro-watershed level, however, has often filled downstream micro-dams in with sediments. Sedimentation has affected the irrigation performance of micro-dams due to their bottom pipes becoming clogged with nutrient-rich soils eroded from upstream farmlands. While there is a growing need for adequate resource management to mitigate severe soil erosion at the watershed-level, it is urgent that methods to make use of the sediments deposited in micro-dam reservoirs to facilitate rural agricultural development are discovered. One practical solution is to use sediments to rehabilitate the bare land excavated for micro-dam embankment construction and turn it into reclaimed farmland. The purpose of this paper is to relate the constructability criteria to the farmland reclamation to solve sedimentation problems. This case study reports the yield of vegetable cultivation on farmland reclaimed using sediments from a micro-dam reservoir in Tigray. This case study highlights the practical potential of such a method to contribute to the livelihoods of farmers through the production of vegetable cash crops. The future research needs cost reduction factors on durability, safety or other related aspects to improve our “Constructability Criteria” approach.