Current water demand for smallholder irrigation in Messica, Mozambique

Abstract

This study aimed to get insight in current water demand for irrigation in the Messica catchment, Mozambique. Remote sensing land use classification techniques are used to classify land use in the Messica catchment. Landsat 8 satellite imagery was used for the classification in combination with local fieldwork that served as ground truthing. The classified total size of irrigated farmland is combined with a method of Brouwer and Heibloem (1986), This method take water losses trough evapotranspiration as water demand for a crop. Climatic data is combined with local fieldwork about crops such as growth times, crop types and sow times. The combination of the two led to crop water demand. The second part of the study consists of an assessment concerning current limitations that farmers experience with irrigation in the Messica catchment. The results show that there is a water demand for irrigation in the months April to September from 4 liter to 44 liters per second for a total of 1608 hectares of irrigated farmland. Current water demand for irrigation is limited by financial constraints of the farmers. These constraints limit the farmers to buy inputs and improve their irrigated fields.