Farmer Driven–Government Facilitated: A New Approach to Ethiopia’s Irrigation Development

Ethiopia's agriculture has long walked a tightrope, dependent on unpredictable rainfall and vulnerable to devastating droughts. Past attempts at small-scale irrigation, often government-driven, struggled with crumbling infrastructure and patchy management. But a new, empowering chapter is unfolding: the Farmer-Led Irrigation Development (FLID) Program.

Championed by Ethiopia's Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and backed by the World Bank through the Ethiopia Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP), FLID is providing water and shifting power. This innovative model puts farmers in the driver's seat, for managing their irrigation. The government, in this new model, acts as a facilitator, guiding a journey towards market-driven irrigation growth.

Empowering Farmers to Lead - How FLID works

At its heart, FLID is about ownership. Instead of top-down directives, individual farmers or groups of farmers are empowered to make decisions about their irrigation systems and are required to invest their money. This approach fosters responsibility and ensures solutions are tailored to local needs.

The program is strategic, learning from successful pilots in Ethiopia and drawing on lessons from other African nations like Uganda. It is designed to complement existing government efforts and achieve self-sustaining irrigation systems.