Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4.6 a: Cultivated areas of Vea Scheme b) Cultivated areas of Tono
Scheme
A further explanation for the underperformance of the Vea scheme could be
deduced from the effect of the land-tenure problems. It is observed in the
land production figures of Vea in Table 4.4 that more farmers are willing to
cultivate in the wet season when no water levy is charged than the dry
season which does require payment of the water levy.
In the Tono scheme 50% of the developed land is unutilised and the
historical trend shows no sign of improvement. Reasons given by the
management are: (a) an area of 490ha has not been irrigated since
construction due to technical problems in the design; (b) during full
irrigation farmers at the tail end of the scheme cannot get water thus those
fields are usually unused; and (c) the canals and laterals were in a bad state
for a long time but are now undergoing rehabilitation.
Figure 4.7: Dry season crop yields; a) Vea scheme b) Tono scheme
The average yields obtained for the three major dry season crops (rice,
tomatoes and onions) are respectively 4.8t/ha and 11.5t/ha for the Vea
scheme and 3.9t/ha, 9.0t/ha and 7.3t/ha for the Tono scheme (Figure 4.7).
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