




































 
 

 

15 
 

Asian Review of Environmental and Earth Sciences 
Vol. 5, No. 1, 15-21, 2018 

ISSN(E) 2313-8173 / ISSN(P) 2518-0134 
DOI: 10.20448/journal.506.2018.51.15.21 

      

 
 
Groundwater Based Irrigation and Food Security in Raya-Kobo Valley, Northern 
Ethiopia 

 
Dessie Nedaw1     

Nata Tadesse Tafesse2


    
Kifle Woldearegay3      
Tesfamichael Gebreyohannes4     
Frank Van Steenbergen5      
Loiskandl Willibald6      

 
( Corresponding Author) 

 

 
1School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia 
2Department of Geology, University of Botswana, Botswana 

 
3,4Department of Earth Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia 
5MetaMeta, The Netherlands 
6Institute of Hydraulics and Rural Water Management, BOKU, Austria 

 
Abstract 

The Raya-Kobo valley is characterized by good groundwater resources potential (excess of 198 Mm3) 
located in northern Ethiopia. The total area of the valley is approximated to be 3510 Km2. Despite this 
potential of groundwater, the area has been suffering from droughts. Establishment and expansion of 
cooperative societies, small business enterprises and irrigation farming were given priority as interventions 
to address the food security problem in the valley. These interventions were designed and implemented in 
the last several years by the regional governments administrating the Raya-Kobo valley, and groundwater 
is used as a source of water for irrigation farming for more than nine to ten years. Nevertheless, food 
insecurity is still a major problem in the area. The present study has been conducted to investigate the 
extent of contribution of the groundwater based intervention in the elimination food insecurity. The study 
was conducted by collecting, analyzing and interpreting all the existing relevant data of the study area. 
Groundwater potential was compiled from the author‟s previous works and recently conducted research 
works. The impact of the groundwater based irrigation on food security issues was assessed using informal 
and formal interviews and focus group discussions. Limited area coverage of the irrigated land and the long 
time taken for the extension works in those drilled productive wells are the major limitations in the Kobo 
valley that makes the groundwater based irrigation unable to release the farmers of the area from the food 
insecurity. In Raya valley, besides to these problems, absence of responsible office, failure of pump, and the 
long time taken for pump maintenance are also the major factors. In Raya-Kobo valley food security is 
highly related to the availability of water. Irrigating the whole potential irrigable area, increasing and 
sustaining availability of groundwater and management of the irrigation scheme are vital to eradicate food 
insecurity from Raya-Kobo valley. 

 
Keywords: Confined aquifer, Groundwater storage, Government investments, Northern Ethiopia, Unconfined aquifer. 

 
Citation | Dessie Nedaw; Nata Tadesse Tafesse; Kifle 
Woldearegay; Tesfamichael Gebreyohannes; Frank Van 
Steenbergen; Loiskandl Willibald (2018). Groundwater Based 
Irrigation and Food Security in Raya-Kobo Valley, Northern 
Ethiopia. Asian Review of Environmental and Earth Sciences, 5(1): 
15-21. 
History:  
Received: 19 June 2018 
Revised: 20 August 2018 
Accepted: 24 August 2018 
Published: 28 August 2018 
Licensed: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 

Attribution 3.0 License  
Publisher: Asian Online Journal Publishing Group 
 

Contribution/Acknowledgement: All authors contributed to the conception 
and design of the study. 
Funding: The research work was financed by The Netherlands Organization 
for Scientific Research (NWO), WOTRO Science for Global Development 
under the Programme CoCoon VPRCS/WOTRO/13/2011: Groundwater in 
the Political Domain. Moreover the write up is supported by the research 
grant from Austrian agency for international mobility and cooperation in 
education, science and research. 
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of 
interests. 
Transparency: The authors confirm that the manuscript is an honest, 
accurate, and transparent account of the study was reported; that no vital 
features of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the 
study as planned have been explained. 
Ethical: This study follows all ethical practices during writing.   

 

 

Contents 
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 
2. Methods .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 19 
3. Results ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 
4. Discussions ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 20 
5. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20 
References ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 

 

 
 

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Asian Review of Environmental and Earth Sciences, 2018, 5(1): 15-21 

16 
 

 

1. Introduction 
1.1. General 

Groundwater is that part of the hydrologic system that occurs in a geologic environment. It plays an important 
role in water supply, ecology and maintaining river flow. It comprises 97 percent of the world‟s readily accessible 
freshwater and provides the rural, urban, industrial and irrigation water supply needs of 2 billion people around the 
world [1]. As the more easily accessed surface water resources are already being used, pressure on groundwater is 
growing. 

Compared to surface water, groundwater is likely to be much more compatible with a variable and changing 
climate. Relative to surface water, aquifers have the capacity to store large volumes of water and are naturally 
buffered against seasonal changes in temperature and rainfall. They provide a significant opportunity to store 
excess water during high rainfall periods, to reduce evaporative losses and to protect water quality [2]. 

According to the Ministry of Water Resources [3] Ethiopia is endowed with huge natural water resources, 
which include 122 billion m3 annual surface runoff and 2.9 billion m3 of groundwater. However, the county‟s water 
resource has not contributed enough to the country‟s socio-economic development, because major part of the 
surface runoff is not utilized and at the same utilization of groundwater for irrigation is still in infantile stage. 

This study is conducted in both Raya and Kobo Valleys in northern Ethiopia, which are located in the Tigray 
Regional States and Amhara Regional State, respectively, having an area of about 3808 Km2.The valleys are 
characterized by flat topography and experiences arid to semi-arid climatic conditions with highly erratic and 
unreliable rainfall. In both cases the main economic means is rain fed agriculture. 

Among the northern parts of the country, the Raya-Kobo valley is one of the areas that are highly affected by 
frequent droughts. Major climatic limitations for agricultural production are erratic rainfall, unpredictable 
monsoons, which often combined with intermittent dry spells that regularly threaten the survival of the crops, 
resulting in reduced production and food insecurity [4]. The infamous drought caused by very low rainfall (Figure. 
1) in 1984 had claimed thousand lives. 

Raya-Kobo valley is administrated by two regional states: Tigray Regional State and Amhara Regional State. 
The northern part, commonly called Raya valley, is administrated by Tigray Regional State whereas the southern 
part, called Kobo valley, administrated by Amhara Regional State. To improve the problems of food insecurity in 
this valley groundwater based irrigation was introduced to the respective administrative area of the valley by the 
respective regional governments before five years at different time. Since then groundwater based irrigation 
become one of the activities in addition to rain fed agriculture.  
 

 
Figure-1. Annual rainfall distribution in selected meteorological stations in Raya-Kobo valley. 

 
Groundwater based irrigation was commenced in Raya valley in 2008 by the Ministry of Water resources 

currently called Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy. In Kobo valley it was commenced by the regional 
government and run by Kobo-Girana Valley Development Project since 2005 [5]. In both areas of the valley, this 
irrigation scheme was implemented with the aspiration of increasing food security and by then reducing the 
dependency on rain fed agriculture.  

At present, in both areas of the valley large numbers of groundwater structures, mainly deep wells, were drilled 
and still new groundwater developments are underway. Following the drilling of boreholes, constructions of 
irrigation infrastructures are in progress, and small areas are covered by irrigation using functional boreholes, 
which are very few in numbers. Those farmers who are involved in the irrigation schemes and their land covered 
by irrigation are cultivating different crops using complimentary and supplementary irrigation systems.  

Even though groundwater based irrigation is there as intervention since five years ago, food insecurity is 
remain as a major issue in this valley without any significant improvements. Groundwater based irrigation has not 
yet been able to play the major role in the agricultural production. A study that reveals the reason behind to this 
has not yet been done, which is the main objective of this study. The present study has been conducted to 
investigate the extent of contribution of the intervention in the elimination food insecurity and the reason why it is 
unable to boost agricultural productivity to the extent that enable it to play a major role  in the agricultural 
production in this valley.   

 
 
 



Asian Review of Environmental and Earth Sciences, 2018, 5(1): 15-21 

17 
 

 

1.2. Location 
Raya-Kobo valley is located within UTM 37P, 541000-59600m E and 1319000-1428000m N, and covers an 

area of 3510 km2 (Figure. 2). Raya valley has a total area of 2595 km2 whereas the remaining 915 km2 is constituted 
by Kobo valley.  
 

1.3. Groundwater Resource 
Nearly 268 deep boreholes are inventoried in the study area. Boreholes that are drilled mainly for irrigation 

purposes are 135 and 64 in Raya valley and Kobo valley, respectively. Semi confined aquifer, confined aquifer and 
unconfined aquifer are the major aquifer types in Raya-Kobo valley. The depth of the boreholes ranges from 51 to 
311m with an average depth of 148 m. The static water level ranges from artesian condition to 90m below ground 
surface with a mean value of 27 meter. The drawdown ranges from less than a meter to 63 meter with an average 
value of 15 meter. The well yield also ranges from 1.13 to 121 l/s with a mean value of 41 l/s. The general flow 
direction of the groundwater coincides with the surface water flow direction. Generally the groundwater flow 
direction is from west to east (Figure 3). Basically the downstream upstream relationship is governed mainly by 
west to east flow. Hydrogeologicallly there could be a hydraulic connection from north to south as the main aquifer 
is unconsolidated deposits. 
 

 
Figure-2. Location maps Raya-Kobo valley  

                  Source: Nata, et al. [6]. 

 



Asian Review of Environmental and Earth Sciences, 2018, 5(1): 15-21 

18 
 

 

 
Fig-3. Digital elevation model, groundwater contours and flow line map of the study area. 

                              Source: Dessie [7]. 

 

1.3.1. Groundwater Resource Potential of Raya Valley 
The groundwater recharge, estimated by using water balance method, is 129.3 MCM (50 mm) per year [7]. 

The recharge occurs in all parts of the catchment based on availabilities of excess rainfall. The major portion of the 
recharge occurs on the plateau and the escarpments through direct (diffuse) infiltration. The escarpments due to 
their geomorphological setup, act as runoff zones rather than being water storage medium during rainy periods. 
Limited infiltration can take place in the fractures of the rocks. Fractures serve as an inlet for the rain fall in the 
escarpments. Both runoff and the limited infiltrated water in the escarpments act as a source of replenishment for 
the aquifers that occur down in the topographically lower areas. A significant portion also recharged along the foot 
of the escarpment through indirect rainfall recharge from local surface runoff. From field observation and the 
general flow direction of the groundwater system the whole basin recharge is concentrated towards the valley fill 
material. Reducing the amount used by the community on the plateau and escarpments which is estimated to be 
5.731 MCM/year [8] the net groundwater recharge to the valley floor aquifer is found to be 123.6 MCM/year. 
This amount does not take into account the possible recharge that will occur because of irrigation as a return flow. 
The valley floor aquifers could yield theoretically about 123.6 MCM without adversely affecting the groundwater 
resource if all assumption for the calculation of the water balance is correct. The total yield of the wells (the sum of 
all the wells yield) which are already drilled and tested is 233.3 MCM. Only few wells are operational currently. If 
all the wells are made operational and worked for eight months of the year for 12 hours then the total yield from 
the Raya valley basin is estimated at 77 MCM. Generally sustainable yield may not be equal to the conventional 
safe yield [9]. The future development of the wells should take into consideration the sustainable yield, which is 
less than the safe yield. 

The total groundwater storage was estimated by considering the total area of the valley floor, the saturated 
thickness and the storativity. Accordingly the average thickness of the valley fill sediments is found to be 149 m 
and the average depth to the static water level is around 25 meter resulting in an average saturated thickness of 
124 meter. If we assume a storativity of 0.003 for confined and semi confined aquifer which accounts about 70 % in 
the study area and a specific yield of 0.19 for unconfined aquifer which accounts 30 % of the study area [10] then 
the total groundwater storage for an area of 1018 km2 is about 7460 MCM. 



Asian Review of Environmental and Earth Sciences, 2018, 5(1): 15-21 

19 
 

 

1.3.2. Groundwater Resource Potential of Kobo Valley 
The annual dynamic groundwater potential in Kobo valley as calculated using Chloride mass balance method is 

68.9 MCM [8]. Similar to Raya valley, the groundwater recharge is mainly concentrating in the alluvial deposit in 
the valley floor. Recharge takes place in the same way with Raya valley. The total number of wells extracting 
groundwater is not well known. It is difficult to know the planned or current groundwater abstraction to compare 
its impact on the sustainability. Sixty four boreholes with a potential total yield of 74 MCM per year are 
inventoried but more were under construction during this research work. If we assume eight months operation for 
12 hours a day the planned abstraction from the inventoried wells is equivalent to 24.6 MCM per year. The 
sustainable yield from this valley will be much higher as the major river is perennial and dependent on the 
groundwater discharge. The development of new irrigation well should take into account the possible negative 
impact on the surrounding surface water resources. 

The groundwater reserve for the alluvial aquifer in the Kobo valley with areal coverage of 417 km2 comprising 
70% confined and semi confined aquifer and 30% unconfined aquifer can be estimated by considering the storativity 
for confined aquifers to be 0.003 and specific yield for unconfined aquifer to be 0.19. The saturated thickness is 
estimated to be 95 meter. The total storage is 2331 MCM. 
 

2. Methods 
To achieve the above mentioned objective all the existing relevant primary and secondary data of the valleys 

were collected, analysed and interpreted. Data that were generated in the previously done groundwater related 
activities were collected from different sources in Addis Ababa, Alamata, Mehoni and Kobo (Figure. 1) whereas 
first hand data were collected during the field investigation. 

Field investigation and compilation of existing studies were used to estimate the groundwater resource of the 
area. The groundwater resource exploitation was assessed on field by direct communication with the farmers and 
the responsible district professionals. The impact of the groundwater based irrigation on food security issues was 
assessed using informal and formal interviews and focus group discussion with District Administrators, Woreda 
Agriculture Office, Woreda Food Security Office, Woreda Water Offices, WUAs (water user cooperative 
associations), individual farmers and by directly observing the living condition on the spot. Furthermore, 
discussions were held with agriculture extension agents in the district (Woreda is local name for district). 
 

3. Results 
3.1. Food Security versus Irrigation Development in Raya-Kobo Valley 

The study area comprises three districts, locally called “Woreda”: Alamata, Raya Azebo, and Kobo. Two of 
them, Alamata and Raya Azebo, are in Raya valley whereas the third one is in Kobo valley.  
 

3.2. Kobo District (Woreda) 
In this woreda, the potential irrigable area is about 20000 hectare. Up to June 2012 a total of 64 deep wells 

have been drilled by governmental organization and investors for this purpose. Out of these drilled wells 92.2 % 
was drilled by the governmental organization and the remaining 7.8 % was by investors. All the wells that were 
drilled by the investors are currently functional and used as a source of water for irrigation. In those wells that 
were drilled by governmental organization, however, only 28.8% of the drilled wells are functional and serving as a 
source of water for irrigation. For the remaining 71.2% the required works that make them to serve as a source of 
water are under construction. All the functional wells, both governmental and investors together, at present 
irrigating an area less than 1100 ha. Around ten thousand people are benefiting from this intervention. 

The district has 41 smallest administrative units, locally called „Kebeles‟, and all of them are found in the rural 
areas. Even though the use of groundwater as source of water for irrigation was started since 2005, all these rural 
Kebeles up to June 2012 are registered as food insecure.  

The safety net program which is designed as a social welfare for rural community registers families which are 
in need of support. For someone to be considered in safety net his annual productivity should be less than six 
months consumption.  

According to the statistical data collected from the food security office, out of the total population of 202262, 
51550 peoples are supported by the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP). The Productive Safety Net 
Programme (PSNP) in Ethiopia is aimed at enabling the rural poor facing chronic food insecurity to resist shocks, 
create assets and become food self-sufficient [11]. 

In the Kobo valley, the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) has two components: the direct support and 
public work components. In the direct support program those community members who are not able to work 
because of age and health condition are registered. Accordingly, out of the total safety net beneficiaries, 5946 are in 
the direct support and the remaining 45604 are in the public work component. In the past years between 2008 and 
2012, those farmers included in the irrigation schemes graduated from PSNP are being certified as food secured. 
 

3.3. Raya Valley - Alamata Woreda 
In this area government led groundwater irrigation is there since 2008, only 6.9 per cent of the total drilled 

wells were utilized for this purpose till the end of 2012, and the remaining 93.1 were nonfunctional due to different 
reasons. Even though the potential irrigable area in Alamata is 16575 ha [12] up to the end of 2012, only 180 ha 
was developed through irrigation using these functional deep wells, and 588 peoples were benefited from this 
scheme. Albeit an irrigable land of 1700ha is given to the investors, only 30 ha land is irrigated up to the end of 
2012 using two deep wells. However, it is so slow, deep well groundwater irrigation has increased from less than 
20.5 ha in the year 2008 to 210 ha in the year 2012. 

Alamata has 14 rural Kebeles and one rural town. All of them have peoples who are enlisted in the safety net 
program. There were 49990 beneficiaries in the safety net program at the initial stage. In the past years between 



Asian Review of Environmental and Earth Sciences, 2018, 5(1): 15-21 

20 
 

 

2008 and 2012, 3794 households graduated from PSNP because of the intervention of the groundwater based 
irrigation. 
 

3.4. Raya Valley - Raya Azebo Woreda 
Like Alamata, government led groundwater based irrigation practice is there since 2008, only 5.4 % of the total 

drilled wells were served as a source of water for this purposes till the end of 2012, and the remaining 94.6% were 
nonfunctional due to different reasons. Using these functional deep wells 92 ha were covered by irrigation and 144 
peoples were benefited from this scheme. Out of the 2128.35 ha given to the investors, 324.5 ha was utilized for 
irrigation using five deep wells till the end of 2012. The potential irrigable area in this part of the valley is about 
19880 ha [11]. Although, it is so sluggish, deep well groundwater irrigation has increased from 76.8 ha in the year 
2008 to 416.5 ha in the year 2012. 

There are 20 Kebeles in the woreda, and all of them are food insecure. The total population of the woreda is 
about 127000. Out of these the total beneficiaries of the PSNP at the initial stage was 64213. Between 2008 and 
2012, 4480 households graduated from PSNP because of the intervention of the groundwater based irrigation. 
 

4. Discussions 
The agency/department managed, farmer-managed or the community managed schemes and public-beneficiary 

managed are the different management styles associated with government-led irrigation schemes [13]. With the 
exception of the very few areas that are owned by investors, in the study area the major groundwater irrigation schemes 
are government-led and are managed by the beneficiary farm households via their WUAs (water user cooperative 
associations). Each cooperative association is administered by irrigation committee which consists of five to seven 
executive members. In each cooperative 50 to 100 households are involved. 

Even though utilization of groundwater for irrigation is implemented in Raya-Kobo valley before five years, 
the study area is still known as one of the food insecure area. This is mainly because the rain fed farming is still the 
one that plays the major role in the agricultural production. Dependence on rain-fed agriculture not only reduces 
productivity but also greatly increases growth volatility of the agriculture sector and the vulnerability of the poor 
[13]. Contrary to the huge land and groundwater resource potential, food insecurity is still the major problem in 
Raya-Kobo Valley. 

In Raya valley government is highly engaged in the development of groundwater. However, drilling of 
boreholes was not accompanied or immediately followed by the essential extension works, which makes the drilled 
boreholes being an active water sources for the purpose that they were drilled. Because of these only 6.25% the 
total drilled boreholes were functional at the end of 2012 and the remaining 93.75% were found closed and idle. 
Management of utilization of the groundwater, management of the functional boreholes and of the irrigation 
schemes are left to the farmers. As it was mentioned above farmers are managing all these by themselves as 
cooperatives. One of the major problems for the administrative body of the cooperatives is a breakdown of pump 
that happened sporadically here and there. Lack of technical knowledge of the irrigation committee, lack or absence 
of immediate assistance from the concerned body, lack of immediate access to the technicians and lack of spare parts 
makes the repair services difficult and time consuming. As the maintenance duration takes more and more time the 
farmers will be forced to depend only on the rain fed agriculture and this exposed them to food insecurity since the 
rainfall is unreliable and erratic. Frequent breakdown of motor pumps (scheme machinery) is a common problem in 
any irrigation scheme that use groundwater as source, and if it is not get an immediate solution it becomes a major 
problem to the sustainability of irrigation systems. This is a case of Raya valley groundwater based irrigation 
scheme. 

Absence of responsible governmental or government affiliated office in the management of utilization of the 
groundwater, management of the functional boreholes and of the irrigation schemes, the delay in the extension 
works on the drilled boreholes, failure of pump, and the long time taken for pump maintenance are the major 
factors that exert an obstacle to the proper implementation of groundwater based irrigation and its sustainability in 
Raya valley. Due to all these problems plus limited area coverage of the irrigation scheme, the groundwater based 
irrigation is not yet able to set the farmers free from food insecurity, which is highly related to the availability of 
water in the area. 

In Kobo valley, unlike the Raya valley, the cooperatives get full support from the regional government through 
an office called“Kobo-Girana Valley Development Office”.The office was established with the aim of enhancing food 
security through irrigation development in the Kobo-Girana valleys, and it has been operating in the area since 
1999 [6]. Development of groundwater, management of functional boreholes, groundwater utilization and 
management of the irrigation scheme are all managed by this office.   

Even though the office is there since 1999, the area covered by irrigation, excluding the area irrigated by 
investors (less than 520 ha), is less than 580 ha, which is less than 3% the potential irrigable area in the valley; 
indicating the sluggish rate of the implementation of the groundwater based irrigation in the area. Moreover, the 
drilled boreholes are not used immediately after construction for the purpose they were drilled. The extension 
work is found taking more time than what is allocated for it. Pump maintenance is not a problem to the 
cooperatives since it is handled by the office. Consequently, sustainability is not an issue. 

In the Kobo valley, even though, the presence of responsible office maintains sustainability of the irrigation 
systems, still the valley has peoples that are food insecure. This mainly attributed to the limited area coverage of 
the project as compared to the total irrigable land in the valley and the long time taken for the extension works in 
those drilled productive wells. 

 

5. Conclusions  
The groundwater resource potential of Raya-Kobo area is in excess of 198 Mm3 as confirmed by several studies 

and subsequent drilling operations carried out in the past. There have been more studies than the implementation 
of projects. The main challenge revealed in this study is the failure to utilize this huge water resource potential due 



Asian Review of Environmental and Earth Sciences, 2018, 5(1): 15-21 

21 
 

 

to various reasons to alleviate poverty by reducing the number of population dependent on the safety net. As a 
result, food security and livelihood improvement still remains as a major problem.  

Absence of responsible office, the very long duration taken for the extension works, failure of pump, and the 
long time taken for pump maintenance are the major factors that exert an obstacle to the proper implementation of 
groundwater based irrigation and its sustainability in Raya valley. Due to all these problems plus limited area 
coverage of the irrigation scheme, the groundwater based irrigation is not yet able to set the farmers free from food 
insecurity. 

Limited area coverage of the project as compared to the total irrigable land in the valley and the long time 
taken for the extension works in those drilled productive wells are the major limitations in the Kobo valley that 
makes the groundwater based irrigation unable to release the farmers of the area from the food insecurity.  

In Raya-Kobo valley food security is highly related to the availability of water. Therefore, increasing the 
availability of groundwater to the users and maintaining sustainability of the irrigation scheme are highly 
indispensable in successfully transferring the beneficiaries of Safety Net to become food self-sufficient. 
 

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