Water Sharing Mechanisms, Crop Choice and Impact of Irrigation on Household Food Security and Poverty Reduction: The Case of Koga Irrigation Development Project in Northern Ethiopia
No Thumbnail Available
Files
Date
2019-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Agriculture remains the mainstay of the Ethiopian economy. However, the sector is highly affected by climate change induced extreme weather events. This leads to inconsistent and low agricultural production and productivity which exacerbates the food insecurity and poverty problems in rural Ethiopia. Cognizant of the facts, the government has been making interventions to augment otherwise low production and productivity. The Koga irrigation development project (KIDP) is one of such initiatives. However, due to physical, socio-economic and institutional challenges, the project has not reached its desired goals. The purpose of this study is thus to assess the water sharing mechanisms, crop choices and the impact of irrigation on household food security and poverty reduction in the KIDP. The data were collected from the household survey (395 households; 220 irrigators and 175 non-irrigators) drawn using multi-stage sampling techniques, FGDs, key informant interviews and field observations. Various econometric models, as well as descriptive analysis, were employed to analyze the data. The result of the study revealed that irrigation water in the KIDP was shared through poor mechanisms as compared to the standards for modern irrigation schemes water application system. Beneficiaries share water through a simple schedule set by the water committee which failed to consider details of factors. The distribution of water was not equally applied across irrigation reaches. Being influenced by combinations of socio-economic and institutional factors, households were mainly participating in regulation and controlling collective activities to manage the irrigation scheme. Irrigating households in the KIDP were predominantly cultivating cereal crops combined with both vegetables and cash crops. Length of crop maturity period, crop in-home utilization and crop marketability were the most determinant factors of farmers’ crop choice decisions under irrigation farming. Irrigation has a statistically insignificant impact on the household’s multidimensional food security, but it has a positive and significant impact on their annual income and multidimensional poverty reduction. Nonetheless, the impact was not evenly progressed across irrigation reaches within the system. Therefore, unless there is additional support to the poor, increasingly generated income in irrigation agriculture might not necessarily guarantee a household’s multidimensional food security. Based on the conclusions drawn, the study recommends that the scheme needs to adopt modern technologies and scientific scheduling modalities for fair and equal water distribution throughout irrigation reaches. Farmers should be encouraged to participate equally in various collective irrigation management activities to ensure v system sustainability. To enhance irrigation returns at the study area, the government, experts and non-government organizations need to focus on the factors that affect farmers’ crop choice decisions. Furthermore, the growing interest of policymakers in promoting irrigation should give first line attention in providing mechanisms of converting income into food security and targeting the right poor to enhance rural poverty reduction.
Description
Keywords
Irrigation, household, water sharing mechanism, farmer participation, collective management activities, crop choice, multidimensional food security, multidimensional poverty reduction