Abstract:
Many sugar estates in Ethiopia have threatening of the sustainability due to extremely shallow
groundwater level. For this, Fincha’a sugar Estate is the good example that, waterlogging
problem is becoming the major problem on sustainability of current sugar cane production
yield. Identifying the potential causes for waterlogging in the area is very crucial to make best
decision about the field water management system. The aim of this study is to investigate the
potential causes of waterlogging at Fincha Sugar cane Plantation using spatiotemporal
analysis. The spatial dependence of the groundwater level indicated that the estimated
groundwater level modeled with semivariogram models with a nugget effect. In this study, the
analysis of annual and seasonal groundwater level trends of the year 2000 to 2014 indicates
that most portion of the area has been affected by waterlogging problem and there is steadily
rising trend of groundwater level throughout the time. The rising of annual maximum ground
water level varies from 15cm to 280 cm above the ground surface whilst the annual minimum
ground water level varies from 240 to 410cm below ground surface. The groundwater level
increases as compare to belg season due to maximum rainfall contributions to the rise of
groundwater level in Kiremt season. The fluctuations of groundwater levels were also different
in magnitude from one piezometer to other piezometer due to different factors, like rainfall in
the area, soil type, slope, drainage condition and field water management system. Based on
this, development of shallow groundwater level in the area, formation of unproductive land and
swap area could be common phenomenon of the estate. This could be affecting the soil
productivity and the environmental wellbeing of community living in the area. On the other
hand, there is increased demands for further expansion of cultivation areas by 85 ha/year on
average with intention of replacing unproductive lands which were demoted due to water
logging problems. Conversely, the sugar cane production yield decreased by 63 qt/year. As a
recommendation, without proper management of the shallow groundwater table in the area,
development of new irrigation commands could not be feasible to optimize production yield of
the scheme. The surface and subsurface drainage system should be installed for proper field
water management system and future improvement of sustainable production.
