Enhancing Irrigation Water Management and Malt Barley Practices for Smallholder Farmers at Barneb Irrigation Scheme, Legambo District, Ethiopia

A pre-scale-up study was conducted at the Barneb small-scale irrigation scheme to promote improved irrigation technologies for malt barley, aiming to enhance water use efficiency, farm productivity, and the economic benefits of smallholder farmers. Traditional flooding methods were found to be inefficient due to water wastage, soil erosion, and waterlogging. To address these issues, a Farmer Research Group (FRG) consisting of 30 farmers (26 male and 4 female household heads) was established. The improved irrigation practice involved double row raised bed furrow irrigation with a 40 cm bed width, 20 cm furrow width, and 20 cm row spacing, along with recommended fertilizer rates (100 kg ha⁻¹ Urea and 100 kg ha⁻¹ NPS). Net irrigation depths were 19 mm during the initial stage and 44.3 mm during the mid-season stage, with irrigation applied at 30-day intervals. Results showed that improved seed combined with improved irrigation and agronomic practices yielded 4,250 kg ha⁻¹, a 25% increase over the 3,400 kg ha⁻¹ yield from local seed under traditional practices. Water productivity also improved significantly, with the improved method achieving 4.7 kg m⁻³, nearly double that of the farmer's practice (2.4 kg m⁻³). The net benefit from improved practices was 133,300 ETB ha⁻¹, which is 55.14% higher (47,375 ETB ha⁻¹ more) than the 85,925 ETB ha⁻¹ achieved through traditional methods. In conclusion, the study recommends scaling up the improved technologies through collaborative efforts between the Ministry of Agriculture, NGOs, and private sectors via integrated irrigation extension programs.