The Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Initiative: A focus on irrigation infrastructure

The report compares flood and drip irrigation for the SAGCOT initiative in Tanzania's Kilombero Valley. It finds that while drip irrigation has higher initial costs, it is more sustainable and financially viable when externalities—such as water savings and additional land productivity—are included. Drip irrigation is projected to unlock 10,600 additional hectares of land and reduce seasonal migration patterns compared to flood irrigation.

• Drip irrigation is more financially beneficial than flood irrigation when externalities are included, though it performs worse in traditional financial analyses that ignore them. Under a low-cost capital assumption (USD 1,500 per ha), drip irrigation provides net benefits of USD 39.2 million over 25 years, compared to USD 12.88 million for flood irrigation. Under a high-cost assumption (USD 3,000 per ha), the net benefits for drip irrigation drop to USD 3.98 million, making flood irrigation more beneficial in that specific case.
• The use of drip irrigation significantly increases agricultural productivity and land availability by reducing water waste. It is estimated that 10,600 hectares of additional land could be unlocked for production, leading to a 20 per cent increase in agriculture production and generating USD 51 million in additional revenues over 25 years.
• Drip irrigation improves social sustainability by mitigating seasonal migration patterns. In the flood irrigation (SAGCOT RE) scenario, workers migrate into the valley during the rainy season and leave during the dry season due to water stress; drip irrigation almost completely mitigates this pattern, keeping the population more stable.
• Drip irrigation reduces the pressure on water resources in the Kilombero Valley. In the long term, it reduces annual water use by 14 per cent. While water stress persists in both scenarios, drip irrigation reduces water demand to a level where it is only twice as high as available supply, whereas flood irrigation demand is projected to be almost three times the supply by 2030.
• Drip irrigation supports higher employment levels in water-constrained scenarios. By 2030, the drip irrigation scenario (SAGCOT GE) is projected to create approximately 22,094 more jobs in the middle and long term than the flood irrigation scenario (SAGCOT RE) under water constraints.

APA

Bassi, A. M., Casier, L., Pallaske, G., Perera, O., & Uzsoki, D. (2018). The Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Initiative: A focus on irrigation infrastructure. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/savi-tanzania-sagcot-initiative.pdf

Chicago

Bassi, Andrea M., Liesbeth Casier, Georg Pallaske, Oshani Perera, and David Uzsoki. The Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Initiative: A focus on irrigation infrastructure. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2018. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/savi-tanzania-sagcot-initiative.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bassi |first1=Andrea M. |last2=Casier |first2=Liesbeth |last3=Pallaske |first3=Georg |last4=Perera |first4=Oshani |last5=Uzsoki |first5=David |title=The Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Initiative: A focus on irrigation infrastructure |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=December 2018 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/savi-tanzania-sagcot-initiative.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bassi2018sustainable, author = {Bassi, Andrea M. and Casier, Liesbeth and Pallaske, Georg and Perera, Oshani and Uzsoki, David}, title = {{The Sustainable Asset Valuation of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Initiative: A focus on irrigation infrastructure}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/savi-tanzania-sagcot-initiative.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }