Abstract:
Irrigation increases productivity by reducing crop failure associated with erratic rain-fed
agriculture and ensuring smallholder farmers’ income by improving their production. This study
was conducted in Erer District to identify factors affecting participation in small-scale irrigation
schemes and to estimate the impact of small-scale irrigation schemes on household farm income.
Primary data were obtained directly through interviews, focus group discussions, key informant
interviews, and direct personal observations, and secondary data sources were collected from
published and unpublished documents. The study used a multi-stage purposive and random
sampling method to select 202 households, dividing them into two groups of 98 participants and
104 non-participants based on cross-sectional data. The logit model results show that
participation in small-scale irrigation is significantly and positively affected by the educational
level of the household head, land holding, frequency of extension contact, and access to market
information, but significantly and negatively affected by distance to the nearest market, distance
from the water source, household sex, farmland topography, productive safety net beneficiaries
households, and livestock holding. As per the PSM findings, the average income of participants
is the 39,831.45 Birr, whereas that of non-participants is 24,426 Birr. This indicates that
participation in a small-scale irrigation scheme has increased the household’s income by
15,405.45 ETB on average, which is higher than that of non-participants. Therefore, the
government and other concerned bodies should work on knowledge improvement and
technological development to increase farmers’ participation in small-scale irrigation. To solve
or mitigate the problems faced by smallholder farmers, it is necessary to enhance the
technological provision of farmers and their participation in small-scale irrigation.
