Agri-vector water: boosting rainfed agriculture with urban water allocation to support urban–rural linkages

ABSTRACT

We propose the concept of ‘agri-vector water’ (AVW) to refer to water allocated to towns to maintain urban-based agricultural services that support rainfed farming in surrounding areas. AVW captures the idea that highly scarce ‘blue water’ can be productively used in this way to support rainfed ‘green water’ rather than be applied as consumptive irrigation, especially when the latter exacerbates water shortages during drought and dry seasons in arid and semi-arid regions. To illustrate, we present two case studies from Ethiopia.

KEYWORDS:

• Water allocation
• rainfed agriculture
• urban services
• irrigation
• rural–urban linkages
• Ethiopia

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the people that participated in this research, without whom it would not have been possible. We would like to acknowledge Sisay Mesfin, Fethiya Ahmed, Negesso Jima and Teferi Tilahun for field research assistance. The authors are also very thankful to the anonymous referees for their comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. It is assumed the idea applies to groundwater as much as surface (river) water, and that environmental flows are safeguarded in all scenarios.

2. The strength and clarity of this urban-to-farming signal will vary from location to location and over time. Three modifications of this signal might include: where market feedback from nearby urban areas to farmers does not always exist; when farmers are unable to respond to market signals (e. g., due to poverty); and instances when suppliers manipulate the price of inputs resulting in lower levels of trust in the marketplace.

3. An incomplete irrigation dosage to crops during dry seasons and droughts can bring additional costs and suboptimal economic outcomes when the benefits from expensive inputs (e. g., nitrogen fertilizer) are lost if and when insufficient water is applied.

Additional information

Funding

Catherine Grasham thanks the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) for its financial support of her research. Support was also gratefully received from Funds for Women Graduates (FfWG) and the Hilda Martindale Trust.