Overall performance assessment of selected small-scale irrigation schemes using internal and external performance indicators in West Hararghe Zone, Eastern Ethiopia

<h2>Abstract</h2> This study was conducted to evaluate the overall performance of selected small-scale irrigation schemes using internal and external performance indicators. The performance of the irrigation schemes in relation to water balance was evaluated using three indicators. The results indicated that the relative water supply (RWS), relative irrigation supply (RIS), and field application ratio (FAR) of Midagdu irrigation scheme were 0.9, 1.3, and 0.75 respectively. This indicates that the water supply is not closely related to the water demand. However, for the Wadeti Irrigation scheme, the RWS, RIS, and FAR are 0.48, 0.35, and 2.83, respectively, indicating water stress. The Midagdu irrigation scheme shows 7496.75 birr/ha for both output per unit command area and output per unit cropped area. Output per unit irrigation water supply was 12.5 birr/m3, while output per unit water consumed was 4.4 birr/m3. For the Wadeti irrigation scheme, the values were 11,276.12 birr/ha, 11,276.12 birr/ha, 8.7 birr/m3, and 1.6 birr/m3, respectively. This study results showed that the Wadeti irrigation scheme is more land-efficient, while the Midagdu scheme is more water-efficient. The values of the hydraulic performance indicators Conveyance Efficiency (Ec), Water delivery capacity (WDC), and Delivery Performance Ratio (DPR), for the Midagdu irrigation scheme were 75 %, 0.45, and 0.8, respectively, while for the Wadeti irrigation scheme, the values were 42 %, 0.11, and 0.4, respectively. These results indicate that the water delivery performance of the two schemes was poor. Therefore, improving the hydraulic performance of the scheme requires minimizing water conveyance losses.