WATDEV Local Feedback Meeting in Hola, Kenya to Advance Climate-Resilient Agriculture

The Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), in partnership with CIHEAM-Bari and ASARECA, and in the presence of AICS Cairo, convened a Local Feedback Meeting on 18 & 19 November 2025, in Hola, Tana River County, Kenya, in the framework of the WATDEV Project. The two-day event aimed to share, discuss, and validate results from Best Management Practices (BMPs) feasibility studies. The meeting was a critical platform for strengthening collaboration and gathering local insights essential to advancing climate-smart agriculture, enhancing water management, and promoting sustainable development in the region.

More than 20 key stakeholders participated, including representatives from the National Irrigation Authority, Tana River County Government, Water Users Associations, farmer cooperatives, community leaders, and local farmers, together with project partners. The Local Feedback Meeting sought to disseminate and validate results from the BMPs feasibility studies, specifically by sharing key findings, confirming feasibility assumptions with local groups, identifying enablers and constraints to BMP adoption, and contributing to the development of practical BMP implementation protocols and future training modules.

The opening day introduced participants to the Feasibility Studies findings, which analysed BMPs simulations, baseline assessments, and community perceptions on the potential adoption of improved management practices.

A participatory evaluation session, facilitated by KALRO???s and Tana River County???s staff, followed to enable farmers, county officials, and water managers to collaboratively assess feasibility conditions, sustainability considerations, and basin-level challenges. Direct engagement with researchers sparked dynamic dialogue, as stakeholders raised questions and shared observations grounded in their daily experiences. These discussions highlighted real barriers such as water access constraints, institutional challenges, and the need for stronger support systems to enable BMPs scaling.

The second day shifted towards practical implementation planning. Participants were introduced to a consultation framework and a checklist of farming operations needed to sustainably apply the proposed BMPs.

Afterward, stakeholders actively contributed to drafting BMPs implementation protocols, aiming to disseminate the selected BMPs (agroforestry and strengthening the Water Users??? Association) to other farmers??? communities in the Tana River basin. This collaborative drafting process was a crucial step in ensuring these practices can be realistically adopted within the local agricultural context.

In addition, WATDEV collected farmers??? perceptions on local water management policies through a structured questionnaire, capturing valuable community-level insights on governance, policy gaps, and water use challenges that influence BMP uptake.

As the meeting concluded, partners looked ahead to the next phase of WATDEV project; the rollout of farmer-to-farmer training to expand the reach of BMPs adoption to new communities and beneficiaries. Several participants from the Local Feedback Meeting will step into the role of lead farmer trainers, not only because they are now knowledgeable in the BMPs discussed, but also because their firsthand experience and peer-to-peer influence make them powerful ambassadors for wider adoption across the region.

The Hola Local Feedback Meeting showcased the value of participatory engagement in shaping climate-resilient agricultural solutions. By bringing together farmers, institutions, researchers, and local leaders, the WATDEV Project is building a strong foundation for the adoption of BMPs, improved water productivity and resource governance, strengthened community-researcher partnerships, and long-term sustainable agricultural development

This meeting functioned as a living lab of participatory decision-making, demonstrating the project???s commitment to locally driven, scientifically grounded solutions.

The discussions provided a clear and practical pathway for applying the selected BMPs, Agroforestry and Water Users Associations, and strategies for encouraging adoption beyond the project???s direct beneficiaries.

Funded by the European Union, in the framework of the DeSIRA Initiative, WATDEV reaffirms its commitment to collaborating with local communities to advance practical, science-based interventions that enhance resilience and food security in Tana River County and beyond.

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Ude Kebele groundwater irrigation scheme under the Adaa Becho Groundwater Irrigation system (ABGIS) in the Awash Basin

It is a new intervention area with perspectives to be expanded. It is therefore envisaged that the lessons from other countries could be scaled out in this area.

Ada’a-Becho Groundwater Irrigation (ABGIS) is located in Ada’a Wereda some 50 km from Addis Ababa. The Adama road passes nearby the scheme and has no access limitation.  This scheme is part of Ada’a-Bacho Irrigation Development Project that comprises three conjugate Kebeles (i.e., Dhankaka, Ude and Qallitty) in Ada’a District of East Shawa Zone, Oromia Regional State.

The Ude Kebele Groundwater Irrigation Site is small, scheme selected to demonstrate groundwater irrigation practice demonstration sites as it is new irrigation development area will be a learning site for a medium scale community owned groundwater irrigation development in Ethiopia.

ABGIS landscape is one of the low reliefs that slopes gently north-west and south east wards. Apart from close to the hills virtually all slopes are nearly less than 3- 4%, with the majority of the slopes of 0-2%. 

The climatic variables of the project area are highly governed by the topography of the area (mainly altitude). The highland area lies at an altitude of over 2300 m asl and covers 17.5% of the project area. Mean annual temperature of this part of the project area ranges from 12.50C to 160C.

The major crops produced include Teff, chick pea, wheat, barley, vetch, and maize.  Few farmers also produce tomato and onion as cash crops. Crop production in the area is by and large rain-dependent. But in few farmers produce vegetables twice a year using pumped water from Mojo and Waddecha rivers.

The problems in ABGIS are connected with the limited experience in fruit crop production.

Koga Irrigation System (KIS) in the Abbay Basin

KIS is an established and relatively well performing irrigation scheme in Ethiopia. In here besides Irrigation water management, there are also success stories in watershed management.

Koga is located some 40 km from Bahri Dar town (Regional capital of Amhara Regional State. The  Bahir Dar –Addis Ababa highway passes through the scheme (Fig 2), hence the scheme is year round accessible.

Koga irrigation system comprises of 19.7 km of lined main canal, 52 km of lined secondary canals, 156 km of unlined tertiary canals, 905 km of unlined quaternary canals and 11 lined Night Storage Reservoirs (NSRs). The main canal was designed to provide irrigation water for 24 h during irrigation period.

There are 12 secondary canals designed for 12 h irrigation supply each covering an area of irrigated land ranging from 220 ha to over 1000 ha. Tertiary canals are designed for 12 h irrigation supply. The area irrigated by a tertiary canal range between 20 ha to 65 ha. The quaternary canals have a capacity of irrigating 8–16 ha of land while field canals will serve an area of 2.0 ha within the quaternary unit. The maximum field canal design capacity is 30 l/s.

KIS is the best performing among many community-managed irrigation schemes. Unlike other schemes this was designed and developed as an integrated watershed and irrigation development project.

Among the problems associated to the KIS are Seasonal water shortage and associated conflicts between Irrigation water user associations, low irrigation water application efficiency, catchment degradation. In order to increase water productivity in the KIS, water saving technologies will be promoted.

The Gezira irrigation scheme

The Gezira Scheme is located between the Blue Nile and the White Nile Rivers within a semi-arid agro-climatic zone. In terms of accessibility, it is easily accessible by Wad Medani road and the trip between Wad Medani, the capital of the Gezira State and headquarter of the scheme (Barakat), and Khartoum takes about three hours. The scheme is one of the largest irrigation schemes in the region with 880,000 hectares (ha). It is one of the main sources of foreign currency (cotton export), and food security (wheat, sorghum, vegetables) for Sudan. It has huge infrastructure with a value estimated at about US $ 8 billion. The scheme had played a vital role in the history of irrigation in Sudan and Africa and has become a model for many irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of design and operation system. Therefore, any research aiming at improving water management in Gezira scheme is not only beneficial to the project, but also to similar projects at national and regional scale.  There are many challenges that the scheme face and urgent need to investigate Best Management Practices (BMPs) that  can overcome these challenges and enhance productivity. Some of these challenges are deterioration of irrigation infrastructure, inefficient water distribution within the scheme, agricultural drainage discharges directly in the Blue Nile without treatment impacting water quality, institutional weakness and instability.

Belbies district

Belbies district is located 20 km south of El Zagazig city between Long. 31o 24′ and 31o 39′ E and Lat. 30o 19′ and 30o 29′ N. It is bounded at the east by Abu Hammad, at the west by Minia El Kammh and in the south by the Tenth of Ramadan City districts.

As a part of the east Nile Delta, Belbies district constitutes a portion of an arid belt of north Egypt. It is characterized by a long dry summer and short temperate winter with a rainfall period from October to March. The climate is hot in summer; the average temperature is in the range of 19.7oC and 34.7oC, while during winter it ranges from 7.4oC and 18.4oC.

Due to intensive agricultural practice, which involves the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, many soils and shallow aquifers are contaminated. Consequently, pollution of groundwater has become a major concern in recent years. Wastewater disposed in canals can diffuse in groundwater. Overexploitation of groundwater and intensive irrigation in major canal commands has posed serious problems for groundwater managers in Nile Delta e.g. Sharkia governorate. The development of groundwater resources, technology-oriented management skills, adequate and efficient groundwater monitoring system, empowerment of women in unprivileged areas are among the challenges to be addressed. Indeed, water management projects are one of the priority topics in the political agenda of Egypt.