Cornell-Bahir Dar Universities MPS program project paper

The impact of selected small-scale irrigation schemes on household income and the likelihood of poverty in the Lake Tana basin of Ethiopia

Getaneh K. Ayele Charles F. Nicholson Amy S. Collick Seifu A. Tilahun Tammo S. Steenhuise

Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC) Science Workshop

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 9–10 July 2013

Outline I. Introduction

II. Objectives of the study

III. Results and discussion Income evaluation Poverty evaluation Comparison Problems encountered

IV. Conclusion and recommendation

I. Introduction

• Agriculture plays a dominant role in the overall economic performance of the country

• Dependency on rainfed Variability of on set and duration of rainfall Insufficient rainfall

• Poor performance of AgricultureLow productivityLow incomeFood insecurityPoverty

• Irrigation development is key input to improve the performance of subsistence agriculture

II. Objectives of the study

• To examine the impact of irrigation on total income

• To examine the impact of irrigation on likelihood of poverty

• To compare the relative advantages of small scale irrigation schemes

• To examine the major problems encountered in irrigation practice

III. Results and discussion

• The major reasons for non- irrigating households do not irrigating were:

No surface water access (80 %) Shortage of money (8%) Shortage of labor (7 %) Two or more reasons (5%)

1. Income• Source of household income

Rain fed and irrigated cropLivestock and their productOff- farm and non-farm

Marginal income analysis using Tobit model• Irrigation has a significant impact (3,353 ETB per year), controlling for other factors.

Table 1: Marginal effects of determinants on household total income

Determinant dy/dx

Access to irrigation, 1 = Yes; o = No 3353.29**

Education of household head,1= read & write;0= No 4903.33***

Family size in adult equivalent, number 1552.03***

Number of livestock , in TLU 2281.29***

Agricultural production assets, Ethiopian birr 2.80***

Land holding size, hectare 10274.89***

2. Poverty

• The absolute poverty people unable to attain their minimum nutritional

requirements

• From HH in absolute poverty12 % irrigating88 % non-irrigating

• The number of irrigating households below the absolute poverty line is small Difficult to assess the impact of irrigation types on the

likelihood of a household being in poverty.

Logit regression Model

Access to irrigation with the odds of being poor over non-poor was negatively correlated and significant

Table 2: Parameter estimates of a logit modelDeterminants Coef. Odds

ratioAccess to irrigation, 1= Yes; o= No -1.95 *** 0.14Age of household head, years 0.02 1.02Dependency ratio 0.08 1.08Gender of household head, 1=Male ;0= Female -1.58** 0.21Education of household head ,1= read & write;0= No -1.73*** 0.18Land holding size, hectare -1.95 ** 0.01Agricultural production assets, Ethiopian birr -0.001 0.99Number of Oxen in a household, number in TLU -2.40 * 0.09

3. Comparison of small-scale irrigation schemes Table 3: The statistical mean comparison using one way ANOVA (Games-

Howell test)

(I) Sample small-scale irrigation

types

(J) Sample small-scale irrigation

typesMean difference (I-J)

Concrete canal river/spring diversion

Traditional river diver. 20986.3**

Motor pump 1689.5Pedal pump 22111.1***

Non-irrigating 30063.6***

Traditional river diversion

Motor pump -19296.7***Pedal pump 1124.8

Non-irrigating 9077.3**

Motor pumpPedal pump 20421.6***

Non-irrigating 28374.0***Pedal pump Non-irrigating 7952.5**

4. Major problems encountered

• Lack of access to surface water

• Lack of spare parts for water pumps

Cont…

• Crop disease

• Lack of marketing facilities

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

• Conclusion Irrigation increases annual income and reduces the

likelihood of poverty, significantly

Households using concrete canal river diversion had higher cropping income per household than those using other irrigation types

• RecommendationsEquity in irrigation water distributionSupply water pumps on the basis of users demand Improving the marketing systemEnsure irrigation water access (through groundwater)

Thank you