Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
farmers along the perennial river have formed farmer associations. The
members of the association encourage new farmers who farm along the
Pwalugu River, to join so that they can benefit from economic and social
systems, such as market negotiations and championing of their concerns with
one voice to MOFA and other related institutions.
Land under these technologies are privately owned. Therefore irrigation
farmers contact landowners to negotiate the leasing of their land. In few
cases the landowners irrigate the land themselves.
5.3.5
Temporal Shallow Well Irrigation Scheme
Historical Background and Development
The use of temporal shallow wells is one of the new irrigation technologies
that have emerged in the sub-basin within the past two decades
(Figure 5.6a
& b). It is common in the Upper East Region, specifically in the Atankwidi
and Anayari sub-catchments where groundwater levels range between 3-8m
throughout the dry season. This kind of technology was not identified in the
Burkina section of the study area. As has also been described by Namara et
al., (2010), temporal shallow wells tend to be used in cases where the
irrigation farmer rents the land from the landowner for just the dry season.
This may explain why the wells are temporal. As a condition for obtaining
the land for irrigation the next season, the irrigation farmer agrees with the
landowner to refill all the wells at the end of the season with sand for
reasons of preventing farm animals and people from falling into them and
also to save their farming area from being reduced by the wells. Interviews
conducted in the area showed that this technology started a few years before
the riverine alluvial dugouts. This technology started in the Atankwidi
catchment in the early 1990s whiles the riverine alluvial dugouts started in
1996. The relatively low capital investment ($30/well) accounts for the high
rate of upscaling of this technology in the sub-basin in recent times. The
field count conducted on the riverine alluvial dugouts, was done concurrently
with the temporal shallow wells. A total of approximately 3,000 were
counted within a 30km stretch along the Atankwidi River, with about 40%
of them being used by women farmers.
Infrastructure and Irrigation Technology (Water abstraction,
transportation and application)
The main infrastructure associated with this technology is the temporal
shallow well. The diameter of these wells is between 0.6-1m and irrigation
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