Improving the efficiency of runoff pond system for supplementary irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya

Abstract

With the advent of climate change, semi-arid regions are witnessing increased variability of weather patterns depicted in changes of amount and onset of precipitation, high evapotranspiration demands and increased frequencies of famines. This has exacerbated food security situation, culminating in increased demand for irrigation to mitigate against dry spells and drought. In the semi-arid regions of Eastern Kenya, most farmers are adopting the harnessing of runoff ponds to create water buffer that would be used during the crucial crop-growing stages. Thus, a runoff pond system is comprised of conveyance, storage, abstraction and application mechanisms. However, the efficiency of the system along each component is still low, owing to water losses through poor transmission, seepage, leakage and evaporation. This chapter highlights on experiences of farmers, in Kibwezi East sub-county, Masongaleni location, who had installed 140 ponds by the end of 2013 with new ones still being dug. It goes further to recommend on best practices that could help improve the systems' performance of these runoff ponds, and how lessons learnt from here could help improve similar initiatives in the eastern and southern sub-Saharan Africa.