The impact of small-scale irrigation on household food security: The case of Filtino and Godino irrigation schemes in Ethiopia

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abonesh Tesfaye ◽  
Ayalneh Bogale ◽  
Regassa E. Namara ◽  
Dereje Bacha

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yilma Jambo ◽  
Abera Alemu ◽  
Workalemahu Tasew

Abstract Background Adamitulu Jido Komoblcha is one of the districts located in lowland areas of the Oromia region with irrigation potentials of 14,000 hectares out of which only 2568 hectares are under small-scale irrigation practices. Though there are a lot of households using irrigation in the study area, the impact that it has brought on the food security of the household is not yet well studied in the area. Several related studies reviewed lack appropriate impact evaluation methods in studying the impact of small-scale irrigation on food security that may result in overestimation or underestimation of the impact. To this end, the main motivation behind this study was to examine whether small-scale irrigation in the study area is creating positive change on household food security or not using the propensity score matching approach. Methodology Both primary and secondary data were collected and used in the study. The primary data were collected from randomly selected 94 irrigation users and 100 non-user households from February to March 2018. Secondary data were collected from a review of different works of literature. Both descriptive statistics and econometric models were applied to analyze the data using Stata software version 13. The study applied the propensity score matching (PSM) model to analyze the impact of small-scale irrigation on food security. In analyzing the impact of small scale irrigation on food security, we have used calorie intake, crop harvest and consumption both from own production and bought from the sale of the crop harvest produced through irrigation as an indicator of food security. Result The study has found that participation in irrigation is positively determined by age, education, land size, access to extension service, and participation in off or non-farm activities. In contrast to this, participation in irrigation is negatively determined by distance from farm plot to water source and distance from the main market. The results of the nearest neighbor and caliper matching estimators show that participation in small-scale irrigation increased the daily calorie intake of the small-scale irrigation users by 643.76 kcal over non-user households. Similarly, it increased their daily calorie intake to 596.43 kcal and 591.74 kcal, respectively, with radius and kernel matching estimators. The result further indicted that irrigation had positive impact on crop production, consumption and revenue generation which all together indicated improvement in food security. The sensitivity analysis test shows that impact results estimated by this study were insensitive to unobserved selection bias which shows it is a real impact of the irrigation. Conclusion It was concluded that irrigation has a positive and significant impact on household food security. Concerned bodies that working on small-scale irrigation development therefore should continue investment in irrigation activities for poverty reduction strategies and scale-up irrigation interventions to the other areas where there is potentially irrigable land.



2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beneberu Assefa Wondimagegnhu ◽  
Biazin Alemu Bogale

Agriculture is a limiting factor for food security in Ethiopia as more than 80% of the population depends on it for livelihoods. In many parts of the country, the frequency and distribution of rainfall and the principal source of water for crop production are getting more unreliable and inadequate and frequent droughts, make irrigation farming indispensable. Despite the high potential for irrigation, the study area remained to be one of the food insecure districts in the region and currently it is supported by the productive safety net program. Information is also missing on the extent to which households who have access to irrigation produce more than those who depend on rainfed agriculture. The study contributes to a comparative analysis of the effect of small scale irrigation. The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of small scale irrigation on the food security of rural households. Data were collected from 185 randomly selected rural households in the Goncha-SisoEnesie district of northwest Ethiopia. Descriptive analysis, household food balance model and binary logit regression were employed as tools of data analysis. The result revealed that out of all sampled households, 74% were food secured and 26% were not. The gap in food calorie availability was high ranging from 753-6659 kcal/adult equivalent/day in the study area. Out of 84 irrigation users, 84.5% of them were food secured; whereas only 65.3% of the total 101 non-irrigation users were food secured. In this study, household size, farmland size, access to irrigation, access to credit services, and income from rainfed crop production were the determinant factors of household food security. Small scale irrigation had a direct and indirect positive effect on enhancing household food security status. Thus, the concerned development partners and policymakers should consider the promotion and expansion of irrigated farming in the area.



Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document