The Mango Irrigation Challenge in West Ethiopia.

The Mango Irrigation Challenge in West Ethiopia. Mango is one of the main fruit crops produced in Ethiopia, both for domestic consumption and exportation. The fruit has significant importance amongst Ethiopian farmers as well as for the whole country. It has potential to act as an economic safety net by generating employment and enabling processing and marketing opportunities. According to FAO stat. 2014, over 15,000 hectares of mango are harvested in Ethiopia every year, with an average yield of 6,000 kg/ha. The crop requires tropical or subtropical conditions with high humidity. Mango is considered to be a "sensitive" crop, meaning it has a low tolerance to salinity of irrigation water. In west Ethiopia, a large scale farm owner of an existing rain-fed mango plantation of 1,700 hectares, was faced with a problem. Although the farm is located in a rainy area receiving about 1,200mm of rain per year, 9 months of the year the crops would receive water, while during the remaining 3 dry months, precipitation is close to zero.