DESCRIPTION OF IRRIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE WHITE VOLTA SUB-BASIN - Sustainable Irrigation Development in the White Volta Sub-Basin - page 119

Infrastructure and Irrigation Technology (Water abstraction,
transportation and application)
Dugouts can be constructed in any texture of soil but dugouts constructed in
clay are watertight. Dugouts have features similar to small reservoirs, such as
embankments, reservoirs and sometimes spillways. The spillways of dugouts
can be constructed with concrete walls or earth walls as a simple overflow
weir or can be constructed with culverts.
Dugouts have different shapes and sizes. An assessment of the data on
dugouts in the Upper East Region shows that the length of the embankment
ranges from 30m to 314m, the maximum depth ranges from 1m to 6m, the
full scale level reservoir area ranges from 0.2ha to 28ha and the reservoir
volume ranges from 4x10 3 m 3 and 64x10 3 m 3 . Dugouts identified in the sub-
basin have no water transport structures such as canals or pipes connected
to irrigation fields.
Water abstraction from dugouts to irrigation fields is mostly done by
motorized pumps and the use of buckets or watering cans. Private dugout
owners use motorized pumps to abstract water and transport the water by
means of water hoses. At a public dugout, farmers can be seen to be using
different abstraction methods such as buckets, watering cans and motorized
pumps.
Figure 5.3: a) Example of private dugout; b) Abstracting Water with
motorized pump from a private dugout.
Bio-physical features
Irrigated plots of private dugouts are mostly fenced with local materials such
as thorns or dry stalks to prevent livestock from destroying the crops. Also in
public dugouts where the irrigated fields are not very large, the farmers