Irrigation Water Requirements for Senegal River Basin

TLDR

The Senegal River is a major natural resource in West Africa, and the benefits of irrigation projects depend on how water is allocated, scheduled, and managed for agriculture. The project aims to boost crop production and regional economies by mandating block farming and requiring managers to implement procedures that ensure productivity and efficiency. The authors recommend a temperature‑based procedure for estimating crop water requirements and compare mean, actual dependable, and effective precipitation values at a representative site. The procedure, calibrated with data from four locations, appears generally applicable elsewhere, and the study highlights rainfall’s role in meeting crop water needs.

Abstract

The Senegal River is a major natural resource in West Africa where the principal economic resources are agricultural. A proposed irrigation project will provide a significant increase in crop production and will exert a large influence on the economics of Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali. The magnitude of benefits from the project will depend upon the allocation, scheduling and managing of that portion of the water to be used for irrigating agricultural crops. A procedure is recommended for estimating crop water requirements that only requires the measurement of maximum and minimum temperatures. This procedure although calibrated for the Senegal River Basin using climatic data from four representative locations appears to be generally applicable for other areas without calibration. The importance of rainfall in supplying part of crop water requirements is described. Mean, actual dependable and effective precipitation values are compared for one location. Block farming or the planting of a single crop to manageable areas should be made mandatory. Project managers must assume responsibility for implementing procedures to insure good productivity and reasonable efficiencies.