Eritrea

Contents - Previous - Next

GEOGRAPHY, POPULATION AND WATER RESOURCES

Eritrea, situated in northeastern Africa, along the Red Sea, has a total area of about 122 000 km² The cultivable land is about 1.6 million ha, which is 13% of the total area. Cultivated land is 439 000 ha, i.e., 26% of the cultivable area and 4% of the total area.

The total population was estimated at about 3.4 million inhabitants in 1994, with a growth rate higher than 3% annually. The density is 28/km², but 65% of the population live in the four highland provinces, although they account for only 16% of the total land area (Asmara, Hamasien, Akele Gusai, and Seraye).

TABLE 1
Basic statistics and population

Agriculture represents 26% of the GDP, which is about $US 350 million.

Climate and water resources

The climate ranges from hot arid, adjacent to the Red Sea, to temperate sub-humid in isolated micro-catchments within the eastern escarpment of the highlands. Some areas of the country are more than 3 000 m in elevation, and the average annual temperature ranges from 21°C in the highlands to 25°C in the lowlands. Total annual rainfall increases from less than 200 mm at the northern border with Sudan to more than 700 mm in a restricted area on the southern border with Ethiopia. A small area on the eastern escarpment, known as the green belt, receives over 900 mm/year on average.

Eritrea has three main drainage systems:

• the Mereb-Gash and Tekeze-Setit river systems, draining into the Nile;
• the eastern escarpment and the Barka-Anseba river systems, draining into the Red Sea;
• the river systems of a narrow strip of land along the south-eastern border with Ethiopia, draining into the closed Denkel Basin.

Eritrea

TABLE 2
Water balance

TABLE 3
Irrigation and drainage

Although no measurement of runoff is available, a rough estimate would put internally produced water resources at around 2.8 km³/year, most of which would be located in the western part of the country. The most important river course is the Tekeze-Setit, at the border with Ethiopia, with more than 90% of its catchment situated inside Ethiopia. Estimates of mean annual flow of the Setit at the border with Sudan vary between 6 and 8 km³/year.

In 1993, 109 small dams, built mainly for irrigation in the recent past, had a total storage capacity of 24 million m³ A storage reservoir of 8 million m³ was built in the 1960s on the Gash river to irrigate the Alighider Estate, but needs regular de-silting. Several major dams, built longer ago, are completely silted, such as the Foro dam, which had a storage capacity of 4 million m³ just after its construction in the 1920s. In the 1960s, a new dam was built at Foro on the River Haddas, with a capacity of 23 million m³ but by 1988 this reservoir was also completely silted up,

The main sources of domestic water in rural areas are tubewells and shallow wells.

The present status of rural water supply is unknown, and the Water Resources Department is undertaking a national inventory of all water points.

IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT

Several estimates of the irrigation potential have been made. The largest one, 567 000 ha, does not take into account water availability. Others estimations (107 000 ha or 270 960 ha, according to two different studies) are based on unproven groundwater resources. They do not cover the eastern lowlands, nor small-scale irrigation potential in the uplands.

Of a Total water managed area of 28 124 ha in 1993, 12 494 ha were equipped for irrigation with full or partial control and 15 630 ha were under spate irrigation (Figure 1). The area under spate irrigation seems to be an overestimate, since much of the spate irrigation area in the eastern lowlands, an area severely affected by the war, is out of production at present. Of the area equipped for irrigation with full or partial control, only 5 969 ha, or 48%, were actually irrigated with different types of management (Figure 2).

FIGURE 1: Distribution of the water managed areas (1993)

FIGURE 2: Irrigation management (1994)

• 8 520 ha of equipped area are managed by the Department of Commercial Agriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture, consisting of two commercial farms:

• the Alighider Estate, located on the lower Gash river near Tennessey, with 8 000 ha equipped, but only irrigated on 1 860 ha of cotton in 1993; and
• the Elaberet Estate, an agro-industrial complex of 1 200 ha located 450 km northeast of Asmara, with 520 ha equipped, but only irrigated on 135 ha in 1993.

These two systems are irrigated by river diversion and storage reservoirs, supplemented by wells in case of drought.

• 1 314 ha are irrigated with shallow groundwater pumped in the lower Gash and Barka rivers, or lifted manually with buckets or shadoof. They are generally managed by small-or medium-scale concessionaires (The state-owned land is leased to private individuals).
• 2 590 ha, operated by small-scale irrigators in the highlands, are irrigated by groundwater, and frequently (2 100 ha of 2 590 ha) supplemented by water from small dams. Command areas are generally small, not exceeding 5 ha. The plots are planted with vegetables (tomatoes, onions, peppers, cabbages and potatoes) to be sold to the nearby urban markets. Double cropping is the rule, and triple cropping where water control permits. More than 16 000 families are involved in this type of irrigation.
• 70 ha, operated by small-scale irrigators, are irrigated from springs.

Several estimations of irrigation development costs are given by the FAO identification project:

• in the Highlands, a small-scale irrigation network (3 ha) with a well and a pump would cost $US 4 000/ha;
• in the Lowlands, a small-scale irrigation network (6 ha) with a well and a pump would only cost $US 750/ha;
• a large-scale, double-cropped irrigation system on the Setit river would cost $US 16 000/ha, and $US 332/ha yearly for operation and maintenance;
• a spate diversion system would require $US 2 000/ha.

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

The different institutions involved in water resources and irrigation are:

• the Land Resources Division (LRD) of the Ministry of Agriculture, responsible for land and water resource development and conservation, including soil and water conservation, small dam construction, and irrigation. It is divided into a natural resources section, and a water development and construction section. A re-organization of the Ministry of Agriculture is under consideration; the Land Resources Division could be split into a Division of Soil Conservation, Irrigation and Land Use, and a Division of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment. The Ministry of Agriculture has offices in nine provinces, each of which is intended to have a structure similar to that of the headquarters;
• the Water Resources Department (WRD) of the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Water Resources (MEMWR) is in charge of the evaluation of surface and groundwater resources, the control of the use of water resources, the establishment and the operation of meteorological and hydrological networks, urban and rural water supply, sanitation, and protection of water sources from pollutants; and
• the Land Commission, studying the existing land tenure systems, preparing recommendations for reform needed, and drafting the legislation needed to implement recommended reforms.

Water legislation was under preparation in 1994.

TRENDS IN WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Since independence, a rapid development of concessions for modern, mostly irrigated, agriculture in the southwestern lowlands has been observed. The rehabilitation of spate irrigation systems should be seen in the next few years.

Sedimentation is a very important problem, that should be taken into account in the operation and maintenance costs, as reservoirs are quickly silted up, canals filled with sediment and the lifetime of pumps reduced.

The new strategy in the irrigation subsector suggested by FAO to the Government in its Agricultural Sector Review of 1994 is:

• to set up networks to collect essential climatological, hydrological, and groundwater resources data. A master plan for development of water resources should then be undertaken;
• to improve the development of small dams in the highlands. The Ministry of Agriculture, which is planning the construction of 60 dams over the next few years, should be provided with an Irrigation Advisory Unit, that will assist farmers in the development of some 600 ha of irrigated land, and in the setting up of water user associations at the village level; and
• to supervise the existing concessions in the lowlands, and advise on the granting of further concessions. The Department of Commercial Agriculture, assisted by the Irrigation Advisory Unit, should be the institution in charge of that activity.

MAIN SOURCES OF INFORMATION

FAO. 1994. Eritrea - Agricultural sector review and project identification. 3 volumes. Report prepared by FAO/IC under Technical Cooperation Programme project TCP/ERI/2353. Rome.

Contents - Previous - Next