Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
covered in the literature (Liebe et al., 2005; Faulkner et al., 2008), other
irrigation technologies, which rely on permanent shallow wells, riverine
water, temporal shallow wells and riverine alluvial dugouts, are uncommon in
the literature (Ofosu et al., 2010).
Lessons from irrigation development in the White Volta sub-basin begin with
the performance assessment of two large-scale irrigation schemes over the
past thirty years. This is followed by a detailed description of the less known
irrigation technologies. Following two years of data collection on these
irrigation technologies, a comparative analysis is performed on the
productivities of irrigation technologies. The results throw more light on the
reason why private-led irrigation has been increasing within the past two
decades. A historical analysis is also performed on the trend of irrigation
development in the study area. Factors influencing the historical trend and
other identified factors are used to forecast the future of irrigation in the
White Volta sub-basin.
1.4 S USTAINABLE I RRIGATION D EVELOPMENT IN
THE CONTEXT OF I NTEGRATED W ATER
R ESOURCES M ANAGEMENT
Increase in consumptive water use (e.g. irrigated agriculture) is driven by the
development policies of governments on irrigated agriculture and other
economic factors such us market demand which will expand the irrigation
activities in the White Volta. The increase in water consumption obviously
reduces available water to downstream users.
The implications are significant due to the fact that the Volta basin is of
economic importance to the six riparian countries. For example, the
importance of the Volta basin to the socio-economic development of Ghana is
underscored by the fact that the basin, through its two hydroelectric power
stations (located downstream of the White Volta at Akosombo and Akuse),
has a potential of generating 1072MW of electricity and supplies energy to
Togo and Burkina Faso. The Volta Lake is also used for the transportation of
people and goods, particularly petroleum products from the seaport of Tema
via Akosombo to Northern Ghana.
Upstream water use influences the flow regime and has impacts downstream,
both in terms of quantity and water quality. As stated by van der Zaag and
Savenije (2005), my water use always implies ‚looking upstream‛ in order to
assess water availability, and ‚looking downstream‛ in order to assess
possible third party effects of my activity (Figure 1.1).
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