Using a Triple Sensor Collocation Approach to Evaluate Small-Holder Irrigation Scheme Performances in Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

This study uses a triple-sensor collocation approach to evaluate the performance of small-holder irrigation schemes in the Zamra catchment of Northern Ethiopia. Crop water productivity (CWP), as an integrator of biomass production and water use, was used to compare the overall efficiencies of three types of irrigation systems: traditional and modern diversions, and dam-based irrigation water supply. Farmer-reported data often rely on observations, which can introduce human estimation and measurement errors. As a result, the evaluation of irrigation scheme performance has frequently been insufficient to fully explain crop water productivity. To overcome the challenges of using one single estimation method, we used a triple-sensor collocation approach to evaluate the efficiency of three small-scale irrigation schemes, using water productivity as an indicator. It employed three independent methods: remotely sensed data, a model-based approach, and farmer in-situ estimates to assess crop yields and water consumption. To implement the triple collocation appraisal, we first applied three independent evaluation methods, i.e., remotely sensed, model-based, and farmer in-situ estimates of crop yields and water consumption, to assess the crop water productivities of the systems. Triple-sensor collocation allows for the appraisal and comparison of estimation errors of measurement sensor systems, and enables the ranking of the estimators by their quality to represent the de-facto unknown true value, in our case: crop yields, water use, and its ratio CWP, in small-holder irrigated agriculture. The study entailed four main components: (1) collecting in-situ information and data from small-holder farmers on crop yields and water use; (2) derivation of remote sensing-based CWP from the FAO WaPOR open database and time series; (3) evaluation of biomass, crop yields and water use (evapotranspiration) using the AquaCrop model, integrating climate, soil data, and irrigation management practices; (4) performing and analysis of a categorical triple collocation analysis of the independent estimator data and performance ranking of the three sensing and small-holder irrigation systems. Maize and vegetables were used as main crops during three consecutive irrigation seasons (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20). Civil war prevented further field surveying, in-situ research, and data collection. The results indicate that remote sensing products are performed best in the modern and dam irrigation schemes for maize. For vegetables, AquaCrop performed best in the dam irrigation scheme.