Off-Season Vegetable Farming WATER ACCESS ANALYSIS South Shan, Myanmar 0 Project This study was carried out between January to February 2017 as part of the Livelihood and Food Security Trust (LIFT) funded Making Vegetable Markets Work (MVMW) project. Author Christian Snoad, of Freeway Associates, an independent water, sanitation, hygiene and markets consultant. Contributors Dr Sajid Pareeth, a GIS expert based in Italy, conducted the remote sensing cropped areas analysis. Roman Perkhaliuk, a GIS technician based in Ukraine, produced the surface water map. Acknowledgments Thanks to independent consultant Melvin Woodhouse for providing inputs regarding the approach. Donors This study was funded by: Mercy Corps, Myanmar Cover image: Pindaya township, Zaw Gi village. Photo by Christian Snoad, digitally hand-painted by Vijendra Raikwar. 1 Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................................................ 10 Water Availability and Sustainability ....................................................................................................................................... 14 Agriculture .................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Irrigation Extent .......................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Water Utilization ........................................................................................................................................................................ 53 Financial Considerations and Viability .................................................................................................................................... 72 Enabling Environment ................................................................................................................................................................. 84 References .................................................................................................................................................................................... 87 Annex A: Remote Sensing GIS Analysis Methodology and Results ................................................................................ 89 2 The Vegetable Sector Economy Increased Vegetable Supply in South Shan Grows Theory of Increased Off-Season Vegetable Increased Income for Small- GOAL Production Hold Farmers Change More Acres of Vegetables Increased Vegetable Yield per Irrigated Acre PURPOSE Increased Utilization of Less wastage / More Water Increased Irrigation Improved Increased Water Access Existing Water Available (25 – 50%) Efficiency Farming Practises Rain Water Small Scale Shallow Deep Tube More Pump & Pipe More Acres Irrigated with More Acres Irrigated with Ponds Dams Tube Wells Wells Irrigation Systems Sprinkler Systems Drip Systems Not Government Environmental Risk of Awareness of High High Cost Local Selling Technical Financially Policy and Availability of Drilling Feasibility, Capex & Capex & Benefit Market Price Knowledge / Viable with Funding Water Failure Costs, Access to Access to Knowledge Availability BARRIERS Security Capacity Current Net Benefits & Credit Credit / Belief & Risk Margins Risks POSSIBLE Improve Consultancy Subsidise Connect Tube Pump Irrigation Demo Plots Village Practises firm ACTIVITIES Risk or Farmers Well & Pipe Other Credit Sprinkler & Exposure & Yields: feasibility & Insurance with Credit Credit MVMW System Drip Visits Support Other cost-benefit Scheme Contractors System System Program getting MVMW analysis for & Inform Activities Underwrite drip into Activities dams Driller Subsidy / Benefit & local Capacity bank/microfinance / Voucher 0 Risk Building supplier credit risk market Executive Summary This short study aimed to identify the key environmental, social, economic and market barriers to increasing the availability and utilization of irrigation water for off-season vegetable farming across five townships of South Shan. Within the project area, our satellite analysis estimates that approximately 68,000 acres are cropped in the off season. We expect that at least half of this is from irrigation with the remainder from residual moisture. During field visits we found that 8% of off-season irrigated land utilized local sprinkler systems and less than 1% drip irrigation. By analysing various data sources, we estimate that an average net income per acre for off-season vegetable farming is 800,000 kyats ($640), which doubles to 1,600,000 kyats ($1,280) with improved seeds and farming practises. Combining improved practises with selling at the peak off-season price it is theoretically possible to achieve 2,500,000 kyats ($2,000). Most farmers appear to be selling beneath the average market tracking price. Overall, in most areas farmers are well utilizing existing spring and stream water. Unlike the dry-zone of Myanmar, pump sharing and rental is not common with approaches instead highly individualized. The main barriers to increasing stream water utilization are access to credit for pumping systems and crop selling price insecurity. Providing a credit system would enable poorer farmers to obtain pumping systems. However, in some areas it may prove a zero-sum-game at the macro level with downstream farmers adversely affected. Regarding new water sources, it is generally considered that most springs have already been found and exploited. Rainwater harvesting ponds are demonstrated to not be economically viable. Shallow groundwater is cheap to access but difficult to predict where it will be. Deep tubewells present a good opportunity to increase irrigation water and would be most suitable in alluvial areas. The aquifers are very likely to be underutilized at present. Payback periods for deep tubewells depend on multiple variables but could be expected between less than one to three crop cycles, with 20-year benefit cost ratios from 7-1 to over 30-1. The main barriers to increasing groundwater utilization are access to credit, the risk of drilling failure and crop selling price insecurity. A credit system and risk sharing or insurance scheme would overcome these barriers. An annual credit rate of 23% could still maintain payback in two years in most cases. A project of this type would have an opportunity to work on developing the regulatory frameworks and policy for sustainable individualized irrigation water use. This would include systems to prevent over-extraction, building on lessons from the region. Increasing off-season irrigated acres can also be achieved through more efficient use of existing water. Adoption of sprinkler or drip systems would more than double the effective ‘value potential’ of the available water from 220 to 440 kyats net margin per m3 of water applied for a typical South Shan vegetable crop. Drip systems are currently not available in the market and most farmers have not witnessed their use. There is a clear opportunity to utilize sprinkler and drip systems in demo plots to demonstrate usage and cost-benefit. The main barriers to improving irrigation efficiency are a lack of knowledge of use and cost-benefit, access to credit and crop selling price insecurity. Irrigation credit and subsidy schemes would significantly accelerate uptake and have been applied successfully in other countries. The lack of selling price security is a key underlying factor influencing all farm investment choices and limiting development. Any program that works to increase price security and improve consistency in prices will indirectly improve the enabling environment for increasing water access and irrigation. A second ‘Water Access Interventions’ report builds on the findings of this report and recommends specific program activities which could reduce key access barriers. The theory of change from that report is included here. 1 Summary General The vast majority of water is from springs Springs, arising primarily from the karstic aquifer conditions, and the streams and ponds that they produce, form the vast majority of available irrigation water sources. A small proportion of farmers have access to low yielding shallow groundwater, suitable for small plots. Deep tubewells for irrigation are rare and their overall contribution to irrigation is very small. There is significant heterogeneity There is significant variation in water availability and practises between and within townships. Each village visited requires a slightly different solution to increase the available water. However, some consistent barriers were widely reported. Currently 24% of acres are irrigated in the off-season The latest agricultural census data reports that 24% of crop holdings across South Shan are irrigated, representing