| Abstract: | The study had assessed the economic benefits that small-scale irrigation
farming contributed to the livelihood of sampled households. It had also
evaluated the socio-economic characteristics of sampled farmers and
examined the major constraints to small-scale irrigation farming. Primary
data were collected from 103 randomly sampled farmers using a set of
structured questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS. The
result of the analysis revealed that the mean farm size per household was
7.40 kert (1.85 ha) whereas the mean size of irrigated land was 1.82 kert
(0.46 ha). The survey had revealed that farmers had earned, on average,
Birr 10,309.17 per annum from farming and from off- and non-farming
activities, with Birr 7,031.93 (68.2%) from small-scale irrigated farming
and the remaining Birr 3,277.24 (31.8%) was generated from rain-fed
farming and other off- and non-farm activities. Four kert (1ha) of irrigated
land, on average, generated an income of Birr 15,454.80 from sales of
horticultural crops, whereas rain-fed farming gave only Birr 1,410.44 per
hectare. To that effect, income from small-scale irrigation is significantly
higher (P=0.024) than from rain-fed farming. The study confirmed that 94%
of the sampled farmers considered small-scale irrigation farming as a
poverty alleviation strategy, especially during prolonged dry seasons. The
major constraints the study identified to small-scale irrigation farming were
lack of access to improved technology, inadequate access to capital,
traders’ conspiracy and lack of market information. Age, farming experience,
extension contact and market information significantly influenced the promotion of
small-scale irrigation farming. |
