SALALE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCE

DEPARTIMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

REVIEW ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF IRRIGATION ON THE

WELFARE OF FARM HOUSEHOLD IN ETHIOPIA

SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL

ECONOMICS, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE COURSE SENIOR SEMINAR (AgEc 361)

BY: YEROSAN WAKUMA

ID No: 1818

ADVISOR: Mr. GADISA GIRMA (MSc)

JANUARY, 2023

FICHE, ETHIOPIA
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YEROSAN WAKUMA __________________ __________________

Name of the student Signature Date

Approved by:

____________________ _________________ ___________

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to give a great respect and thanks for my God since all these efforts are
assisted by him. And then I give a great respect and acknowledges to my advisor Mr. Gadisa
Girma (MSc) who played a great role through continuous and invaluable advice, comment and
suggestions up to the end of accomplishment of the paper. And also, my best friend Mideksa
Deneka who helped me through my work.

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TABLE CONTENT
Contents
APPROVAL SHEET SAMPLE...................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...........................................................................................................iii
TABLE CONTENT......................................................................................................................iv
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS....................................................................................vi
LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................................................vii
LISTS OF FIGURE....................................................................................................................viii
1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................1
1.1. Background of the Study................................................................................................1
1.2. Objectives.........................................................................................................................5
1.2.1. General objective.....................................................................................................5
1.2.2. Specific objectives....................................................................................................5
2. LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................................6
2.1. Theoretical Review..............................................................................................................6
2.1.1. History of Irrigation in Ethiopia................................................................................7
2.1.2. Irrigation Potential in Ethiopia...................................................................................7
2.1.3. Irrigation Developments in Ethiopia.........................................................................9
2.1.4. Use of Irrigation Water in Ethiopia.............................................................................10
2.1.5 Classification of Irrigation Developments in Ethiopia.............................................10
2.2. Empirical review: Roles of Irrigation on the welfare of farm Households..............11
2.2.1. Roles of irrigation as Poverty Reduction.................................................................11
2.2.2. As production output.................................................................................................12
2.2.3. As Consumption and Food security..........................................................................13
2.2.4. As Employment opportunity.....................................................................................14
2.2.5. As Livelihood Improvement......................................................................................15
2.3 Factor affecting irrigation development in Ethiopia.................................................16
2.4. Conceptual Framework................................................................................................17
3. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION..................................................................18
3.1. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................18
3.2. Recommendation...............................................................................................................18
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................20

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ABSTRACT
This seminar paper reviews on an agricultural intensification in Ethiopia through irrigation
activity. The paper also discusses the roles of irrigation on the farm’s household welfare through
income generation, improvement of agricultural productivity, poverty reduction and to mitigate
a shortage of food supply, and increasing farmers consumption. Using irrigation activity in a
country that are vulnerable to a nature and manmade factors that affect/influence agricultural
production, is a crucial way that used to mitigate these problems and increase
production/incomes. The seminar paper also discusses the factors that affect irrigation activity
by reviewing from different literature review such as a lack of good farmers awareness, lack of
well farmers training, lack of access credit that is the sources of a capital, top-down policy
strategy and lack of proved input supply. In this discussion, the roles of irrigation activity that is
using of water from its sources through different mechanisms and mixing with the soil in order to
increase the moisture of a soil that supports the growth of crops and plants also discussed.

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

CSA Central Statistical Agency

CWR Crop Water Requirement

ETB Ethiopian Birr

EEA Ethiopian Economic Association

FAO Food and Agricultural organization

GDP Growth Demotic Product

HH Household

LSI Large Scale Irrigation

MoA Ministry of Agriculture

MoWR Ministry of Water Resource

MSI Medium Scale Irrigation

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

PSM Propensity Score Matching

SSI Small Scale Irrigation

UNDP United Nation Development Program

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2. 1 : Classification of irrigation...................................................11

vii
LISTS OF FIGURE
Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework.........................................................18

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 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
In Africa, rain feed agriculture forms the backbone of most of the continent’s economies and
providing about 60% of all employment. However, since, the agriculture practice is depending
on rainfall the uncertainty of the availability of water resources will affect this agricultural
production and challenge socioeconomic systems, and threaten environmental sustainability by
increasing use of non-recyclable resources to feed the growing population. The effect of this
climate change (lack of water availability) will be significant particularly in east African
counters where Ethiopia is located. Ethiopia is one of the east African countries whose economy
is largely dependent on agriculture and also agriculture is conceded as mainstay of Ethiopian
economy. However, a large portion of lands in Ethiopia is arid or semi-arid, inhabited by poor
and vulnerable communities wholly dependent on rainfall. In addition, poor land management
coupled with increasing climate extremes (lack of water availability) is affecting the livelihoods
of these communities. Therefore, understand the impact of climate change on water resources to
implement appropriate climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies is important.
Irrigation is one method of agricultural intensification and plays dominant role in increasing
agricultural productivity. Irrigation is a very old practice, dating back to the earliest civilizations
of humankind. It is one of the key drivers for growth in agricultural productivity, increasing
household income and alleviation of rural poverty (Kasye and Melaku, 2021).

Agriculture still remains the main stay of Ethiopian economy, where around 95% of the
country’s agricultural output is produced by smallholder farmers (MoA, 2010). Hence,
agriculture is the backbone of Ethiopian economy; it contributes 70% of export earnings, 80% of
employment and 40.2% of country’s gross domestic product (UNDP, 2015). In general,
agriculture serves as the primary means for improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers.
However, the sector has remained in its rudimentary stage because of environmental degradation,
small and fragmented landholding, unchecked population growth (2.4% per annum), high rate of
urbanization (5%), limited access to new agricultural technologies, traditional methods of
cultivation, high dependence on natural factors and unsatisfactory institutional support services
(CSA, 2012; MoFED, 2012). In most dry lands of Ethiopia, the recurrent drought is the key

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factor that causes vulnerability of agro-pastoralists and pastoralists. According to his study, the
traditional coping and adaptation strategies of agro-pastoralists and pastoralists in Ethiopia
become increasingly insufficient to sustain local livelihoods during drought.

Agriculture contributes more than 25% to the gross domestic product (GDP) and 55% to
employment opportunities in developing countries. It is thus a prominent sector to target poverty
reduction, and is crucial for economic global policy-making. Smallholder farming forms a
significant component of this sector with a food production rate of more than 70% globally and
more than 60% in developing countries. For instance, in Ethiopia, smallholder farming accounts
for about 95% of total agricultural production of the country. An estimated 2.5 billion people
practice smallholder agriculture and, in doing so, manage about 510 million farms (Amsale, et.al,
2022).

Ethiopia has a huge amounts of irrigable land potential with enough both surface and ground
water resources that used to produce maximum outputs that shares large amounts to GDP.
Ethiopia is noted for having abundant surface and groundwater resources, earning it the
nickname "the water tower of East Africa." A large number of lakes, dams, and reservoirs may
also be found throughout Ethiopia's diverse regions. Estimates of Ethiopia's irrigation potential
vary from one scholar to the next (Belachew M., 2022).

Ethiopia is gifted with various water resources with 12 rivers, 22 natural and artificial lakes and
groundwater. Water potential of the country varies from 2.6 to 13.5 billion m3 per year, which
makes an average of 1575 m3 of physically available water per person per year. Furthermore,
Ethiopia has at least 5.3 million hectares of irrigation potential in which 3.7 million hectares
from gravity-fed surface water, 1.1 million hectares from groundwater and 0.5 million hectares
from rainwater harvesting. Tough there is a huge irrigation potential in the country, majority of
its population are still directly or indirectly engaged in irregular rainfall-dependent agriculture.
To use this irrigation potential effectively, the development policy of the country, regional states
and non-governmental organizations are promoting small-scale irrigation scheme development
so as to increase and stabilize food production in the country. In Ethiopia, the central role of
irrigated agriculture within the context of poverty reduction efforts is well understood as it
increases the production of agricultural raw materials, exploit land and reduce dependence on
rain-based agriculture. Use of small-scale irrigation has a great importance to produce more

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during rainfall shortage periods. It can contribute to overall livelihood improvement of the rural
population through increased income, food security, social needs fulfillment and poverty
reduction. As a result, irrigated agriculture currently is a priority in the agricultural
transformation and food security strategy of the Ethiopia government (Yilma et.al, 2021).

Kasye and Melaku (2021) mensioned that expansion of small-scale irrigation is one of the
mitigation strategies which taken under consideration for the above problems where dry season
stream flow is reliable. It is known that, irrigation is a very old practice, dating back to the
earliest civilizations of humankind in Ethiopia. It also, served as one of the key drivers behind
growth in agricultural productivity, increasing household income and alleviation of rural poverty,
thereby highlighting the various ways that irrigation can impact poverty. In Ethiopian, to meet
food requirements by 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organization for United Nations also,
estimated that food production from irrigated areas will need to increase from 35% in 1995 to
45% in 2020.

Ethiopia’s food supply and economy in general is largely dependent on rain-fed agriculture.
Hence, irrigation development is vital to minimize the risk of crop failure and sustain agricultural
production. Irrigation has been the main driver of increasing food production worldwide.
Irrigated land produces 40% of the total grain output from only 20% of global arable land, while
80% of land under rain-fed agriculture produces about 60% of grain output. Irrigation contributes
to agricultural production fundamentally in three ways. First, it stabilizes the harvest
fluctuations, with attendant improvements in average yields brought about through the provision
of dependable water throughout the growing season. Second, in some circumstances, improved
control over available water resources may make a second or even third cropping possible.
Finally, the availability of reliable water supplies makes it possible to use improved seeds, to
introduce new farming technologies, and to increase the use of chemical fertilizer (Ayana, 2021).

In Ethiopia, irrigation development is a priority for agricultural transformation, but poor

practices of irrigation management discourage efforts to improve livelihoods, and expose people
and the environment to risks. In addition to this in Ethiopia irrigation projects have been failing
mainly because of insufficient participation by beneficiaries and insecurity of land tenure,
socioeconomic, cultural, religious and gender-related issues pose a problem to full and equal
participation by beneficiaries. Due to this irrigation agriculture is not developed as expected in

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the country. From the cultivated agricultural land of Ethiopia currently only 12 million ha is
occurred under cultivation (Kasye and Melaku, 2021).

According to Kasye S., et.al (2022), irrigation development is a priority taxes for agricultural
transformation in Ethiopia. But poor practices of irrigation management discourage efforts to
improve livelihoods and expose people and the environment to risks. In Ethiopia severe
waterlogging and salinity problems have challenged agricultural production and resulted in
substantially lower yields than the potential expected. So, overviewed the cause and baste
approaches for management of water logging and soil salinization problems in agricultural land
of Ethiopia is basic in order to get steady and reliable and well-studied documents regard to the
baste soil improving approaches for water logging and soil salinization problems in agricultural
land of Ethiopia. In most agricultural land of Ethiopia drainage systems is either non-existing or
malfunctioning. These have significantly contributed to the frequent occurrence of waterlogging
in Ethiopia along with, lack of functional drainage system and poor water management practices.

Generally, irrigation water is vital resource for many productive and livelihood activities and has
positive role in poverty alleviation. The development of irrigation and agricultural water
management holds significant potential to improve productivity and reduce vulnerability to
climatic volatility in any country. In recognition of the importance of the agriculture sector,
including the irrigation subsector in the overall economic development of the country and in
realizing the objectives set in the rural development policy and strategy, various donors and
development partners should have to engaged in the provision of technical and financial support
towards improving food security and alleviate poverty. Many researchers argue that increasing
cropping intensity and agricultural yield through various methods and technologies (like
irrigation) are the most viable options for achieving food security in Ethiopia.

Irrigation-based agriculture plays an essential role for global food security and for the welfare of
a large share of the world’s population, as it provides about 40% of the global crop production
(Yilma et al., 2021).

Many empirical studies have documented the role of farm management practices such as
irrigation in reducing poverty and improving household well-being. Few studies, however, have
looked at the impact of irrigation farming on poverty vulnerability and the welfare of rural
farming household (Adetoso A., et.al, 2022).

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1.2. Objectives

1.2.1. General objective

 Review on the contribution of irrigation on the welfare of farm household in Ethiopia

1.2.2. Specific objectives

 To review on the history of irrigation in Ethiopia
 To review on the factors, affect irrigation activity in Ethiopia
 To review on the roles of irrigation on the welfare of farm household

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 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Theoretical Review
Irrigation is defined as the artificial application of water to arid land and at last rainy periods for
growing crops. It is a profession as well as a science. It is defined as the artificial application of
water to the crop for the purpose of food and fiber production overcoming deficiencies in rainfall
and help in creating stabilized agriculture. It is application of artificial water to the living plants
for the purpose of food production and overcoming shortage of rainfall and help to stabilize
agricultural production and productivity (Asrat D.,et.al, 2019).

Irrigation is the method of providing water to the land using the man-made process for fulfilling
the amount of water required by the crops for growth as shown by. It is the unnatural procedure
of applying water to fertile land using systematically verified ways and applying it (Ashu,2022 ).

The initial irrigation activity must have been the simple diversion of water onto nearby cropped
lands, which may have been done with bare hands (the diversion of water from streams into
cropped land with bare hands is still practiced today as witnessed by the authors in several
traditional societies) or with primitive tools used at the time. The use of earthen ridges and
digging canals to convey water to land located further away from the water source must have
followed sometime later. Flood spreading—also called spate irrigation—as is still practiced
today in several traditional rural communities, is probably the closest practice to the origin of
irrigation. Sustainable irrigation is the rational practice of all the activities related to water
application on the crops. Irrigation can be broadly defined as the practice of applying additional
water (beyond what is available from rainfall) to soil to enable or enhance plant growth and
yield, and, in some cases, the quality of foliage or harvested plant parts can be broadly defined as
the practice of applying additional water (beyond what is available from rainfall) to soil to enable
or enhance plant growth and yield, and, in some cases, the quality of foliage or harvested plant
parts (Andres F. et.al, 2020)

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Macro-related, the welfare of
agricultural communities is
measured through
per capita income in the
agricultural sector/agricultural
productivity, namely the ratio
between agricultural GDP and
the number of workers involved
in the agricultural
sector (farmers and laborer welfare is the
condition or wellbeing of a society, that can be considered as a state or condition of human
wellbeing that exists when social problems managed, human needs are met and opportunities are
maximizedMacro-related, the welfare of agricultural communities is measured through per
capita income in the agricultural sector/agricultural productivity, namely the ratio between
agricultural GDP and the number of workers involved in the agricultural sector (farmers
and laborers) (Salahuddin et.al, 2021)
Welfare: is the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens,
sometimes welfare is referred to as public aid. T he concept of welfare and utility are related but not
identical: welfare is derived from either a direct consumption of goods or characteristics of goods while
utility is derived from only consumption (Belete, 2016).

welfare is the highest possible access to economic resources, high level of well-being, including
happiness of the citizens, a guaranteed minimum income to avoid living in poverty and finally,
having the capabilities to ensure the individual good life. In economics, welfare is thus mainly
connected to individual’s perception and utility of the use of income. Individual welfare refers to

7
the micro level and how utility can be maximized by choices made by the individual while social
welfare refers to the sum of all individual welfare in a society (Yazie, 2019).

2.1.1. History of Irrigation in Ethiopia

Different scholar’s evidences show that irrigation has been practiced in Egypt, China, India and
other parts of Asia for a long period of time. Irrigation is the basis of civilization in many
regions. For instance, Egyptians have depended on Nile’s flooding for irrigation continuously for
a long period of time on a large scale. Egypt claims to have the world's oldest dam built about
5000 years ago, to supply drinking water and for irrigation purposes. Traditional irrigation is
very old in Ethiopia. The traditional small-scale schemes are, in general, simple river diversions
it is practiced in Ethiopia since ancient times producing subsistence food crops. However,
modern irrigation systems are started in the 1960s with the objective of producing industrial
crops in Awash Valley. The potential of irrigation water in Ethiopia is quite high and its drainage
pattern is of great importance to its neighboring countries. From the total potential area, the area
irrigated is low and the reasons on the past regime is due to lack of fund, data on different factors
of natural resources, infrastructure, skill, research and suitable policy and hydro-politics of the
region (Dessale, 2020).

Dereje and Desale (2016) mentioned that irrigation use in Ethiopia dates back several centuries,
and continues to be an integral part of Ethiopian agriculture. In Ethiopia, modern irrigation began
in the 1950s through private and government-owned schemes in the middle Awash Valley where
big sugar, fruit and cotton state farms are found. In Ethiopia, irrigation development is a priority
for agricultural transformation, but poor practices of irrigation management discourage efforts to
improve livelihoods, and expose people and the environment to risks.

2.1.2. Irrigation Potential in Ethiopia

Awulachew (2019) described in his study, Ethiopia has vast cultivable land (30 to 70 Mha), but only
about a third of that is currently cultivated (approximately 15 Mha), with current irrigation schemes
covering about 640,000 ha across the country. However, the study estimates that total irrigable land
potential in Ethiopia is 5.3 Mha assuming use of existing technologies, including 1.6 Mha through RWH
and ground water. This means that there are potential opportunities to vastly increase the amount of
irrigated land, as detailed below.

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Mulatu and Tesfa (2020) mentioned that currently Ethiopia plans to increase significantly irrigated land
from 640,000 ha to 1.8 million ha, through small-scale, medium scale and large-scale irrigation projects.
Some of the irrigation development opportunities in Ethiopia are; emphasis and priorities are given to
irrigation in the growth and transformation plan of the country, indigenous knowledge and introduction
of promising household water harvesting and micro-irrigation technologies, government’s strong
political commitment and encouragement to private sector and public enterprises involvement in
irrigation development, abundant water resources, climate and land suitability, availability of
inexpensive labor, availability of suitable lands for irrigation developments especially at arid areas of the
country.

2.1.2.1. Surface water potential

The distribution of the surface water potential breakdown by size is five percent SSI, nine percent MSI
and 86 percent LSI. The potential of the SSI is not fully captured in this figure, as master plan documents
tend to underestimate SSI potentials. While there is significant potential to increase irrigation through
various surface water schemes, there are many challenges to realize this potential. As can be observed in
his study, most of the surface water potential is located in pastoralist areas due to land availability and
flow concentration in these low land areas. But realizing irrigation potential in pastoralist areas requires
innovations, as it poses significant changes related to pastoralists’ traditional lifestyles such as sedentary
farming, voluntary settlement from degraded highlands, and small- to large-scale commercial
agriculture (Awulachew, 2019).

2.1.2.2. Ground Water Potential

The irrigation potential of the groundwater was estimated as the quotient of the potential average
borehole yield and the total crop water requirement (CWR) of the dominant crop in the area for
the growing season (Abeyou .W, 2017).

The groundwater resources potential of Ethiopia is estimated to be about 40 billion cubic meters.
Groundwater has been used as the main source of water supply since the 1970s for the main
cities, towns and dispersed rural communities across the country, where provision of reticulated
surface-water schemes is often expensive because of initial project construction costs and poor
water quality. The exponential growth of the urban population and agriculture-led industrial
development have resulted in greater attention to groundwater as the potentially cost-effective
water supply source (Tadele M.,2021).

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As noted above, groundwater in Ethiopia can be used for irrigation in multiple ways, such as
deep and shallow wells from underground aquifers. Compared with other sources of irrigation,
groundwater as a resource for agricultural development offers a number of advantages,
including: Costly development and operations. Depth of access can increase investment
requirements, since the average cost of per hectare of groundwater development, including
operation, is two to four times higher than for surface water irrigation (e.g., stream diversion).
This is especially true for deep wells, which are expensive to develop and operate. And also lack
of a comprehensive understanding of Ethiopia’s groundwater resources (Awange, 2022).

2.1.3. Irrigation Developments in Ethiopia

As Kasye and Melaku (2021) study, Irrigation development is seen as one of the means to reduce
poverty and promote economic growth. In Ethiopia irrigation was practiced for thousands of
years in the Nile Valley. In line with this, the country also has a long history of traditional
irrigation systems by diverting small rivers. Still, simple river diversion is the dominant
irrigation system in Ethiopia. According to some studies, the country’s irrigation potential ranges
from 1.0 to 3.5 million hectares but the recent studies indicate that the irrigation potential of the
country is higher. According to some studies, estimates of the irrigation potential of Ethiopia
may be as large as 4.3 million hectares. Traditional irrigation schemes cover more than 138,000
hectares whereas modern small-scale irrigation covers about 48,000 hectares. The total current
irrigation covers only about 6% of the estimated potential irrigable land area. However, as Kasye
and Melaku (2021) reported about 10- 12% of the total irrigable potentials are currently occurred
under production using traditional and modern irrigation schemes.

On the other way, Irrigation development in Ethiopia is in its infancy stage (MoA, 2011a). The
Ethiopian government is therefore pursuing plans and programs to develop irrigation in an effort
to substantially reduce poverty and create an atmosphere for social change. As a result, the
Ethiopian average rate of irrigation development for the last 12 years was about 1,090 - 1,150
ha/year (Awulachew, 2019). In Ethiopia, only 10% of the estimated potential irrigable land is
actually irrigated and 2% of cultivated lands are irrigated (MoWR, 2001). Similarly, irrigated
agriculture comprises only 3% of the total national food production. That is why; irrigated
agriculture is far from satisfactory despite of considerable investment, public interest, and
strategic support of the government (Kassie, 2020).

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2.1.4. Use of Irrigation Water in Ethiopia
Irrigation in Ethiopia is considered as a basic strategy to alleviate poverty and hence food
security. It is useful to transform the rain-fed agricultural system which depends on rainfall into
the combined rain-fed and irrigation agricultural system. This is believed to be the most
prominent way of sustainable development in the country. However, the development of
irrigation practices in Ethiopia has to be investigated so as to seriously know the history of
irrigation emergence and its subsequent developments (Ahmed, 2019).

Antene B. and Mehretie (2020) explained that irrigation water is critical to poverty alleviation
through increased production in rural areas so as to improve food security and rural livelihoods.
Smallholder irrigation has recently received significant focus from local governments to enable
farmers to cultivate crops twice or more per year. Iticha (2019 ) in the study of the impact of
small-scale irrigation on household poverty in central Ethiopia, reported that land productivity,
asset ownership, credit utilization, extension support, resilience to poverty, mean off-farm
income, and mean food consumption and expenditure on food and non-food assets were
significantly higher for irrigators than non-irrigators.

Irrigation in Ethiopia is perceived as a key approach to minimize poverty, food insecurity, and
rising income. Irrigation has various positive and harmful effects on the country as a whole.
Based on the studies conducted in Ethiopia, the reviewer is intended to review the impact of
small-scale irrigation on smallholder farmers' income, food security, and health condition in
Ethiopia (Ashu, 2022 ).

2.1.5 Classification of Irrigation Developments in Ethiopia

Haile(2015), Kasye and Melaku (2021), based on the Ministry of Water Resources of Ethiopia
(2002), irrigation development in Ethiopia is classified based on the size of the command area
into small-scale irrigation systems (<200ha), medium-scale irrigation systems (200-3000ha) and
large-scale irrigation systems (>3000ha) (table 1). This irrigation classification system is the
most common in Ethiopia. Accordingly, 46% of proposed irrigation developments are in the
small-scale irrigation category.

Table 2.1: Classification of irrigation

Table 2. 1 : Classification of irrigation

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Typology Size of Infrastructures Water management
scheme(ha) scheme(ha)
Small-scale <200 Fixed or improved water control and Local water users'
diversion structures made of local materials. association
Medium- 200-3000 Fixed or improved water control and Cooperatives or state
scale diversion structures.
large-scale >3000 Fixed or improved water control and Mostly state enterprises
diversion structures.
Source: Hagos et al., 2009

They mentioned that the irrigation development in Ethiopia is also classified based on the uses of
a mix of the history of establishment, management system and the nature of the structures as
follows:
Traditional schemes: these are small-scale irrigation systems which usually use diversion
weirs made from local material and needs annual maintenance. The canals are usually earthen
and the schemes are managed by the community.
Modern schemes: these are small-scale irrigation systems with more permanent diversion weirs
made from concrete that don’t require annual maintenance. They are mostly community-
managed and the primary and secondary channels are made of concrete.
Public: these are large-scale operations constructed and managed by the government. Sometimes
these schemes support out-growers (smallholder farmers who have farms in the vicinity of the
large-scale schemes).
Private: These are privately owned systems in mechanized farms which need a highly intensive
operation.
2.2. Empirical review: Roles of Irrigation on the welfare of farm Households
2.2.1. Roles of irrigation as Poverty Reduction
The results of the linear regression with endogenous treatment effects showed that irrigation
technology use is positively related to crop yield, crop income and household food security. In
consistence, the impact analysis using propensity score matching (PSM) also showed a
significant and positive effect of irrigation technology use on crop yield, crop income and
household food security (Ogunniyi A., 2018).

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According to Ashu (2022), irrigation in Ethiopia is perceived as a key approach to minimize
poverty, food insecurity, and rising income. Irrigation has various positive and harmful effects on
the country as a whole. Based on the studies conducted in Ethiopia, the reviewer is intended to
review the impact of small-scale irrigation on smallholder farmers' income, food security, and
health condition in Ethiopia. Different documents carried out in Ethiopia were reviewed as the
source. The income of the smallholder farmers was improved positively and significantly due to
practicing small-scale irrigation as reviewed.

Irrigation has the power of poverty reduction through increasing agricultural production and
productivity, creating employment opportunity for poor on farm and off farm activity, increasing
the income of irrigator, affecting the price of food and irrigation has negative impact on poverty
and positive impact on income as the review shows that (Iticha, 2019 ).

As Dessale (2020), irrigation can benefit the poor specifically through higher production, higher
yields, lower risks of crop failure, and higher and all year-round farm and non-farm employment.
Farmers in poor areas have suffered from chronic poverty and severe food insecurity being
vulnerable to climatic changes and dependent on variable rainfall. This is mainly attributed to a
low level of agricultural productivity. Such low productivity areas are characterized by persistent
rural poverty, and increasing population pressure has often resulted in a vicious circle of poverty
and environmental degradation.

As Ayana (2021) conducted a study, agricultural intensification through the practice of irrigation
could be considered the best strategy for poverty reduction and promotion of sustainable rural
livelihoods. Therefore, in connection with this particular reference, the irrigation user households

in the study area have the opportunity to diversify their livelihood scenario. And also, the
potential of irrigated smallholder technology supported farms to improve food security and
increase income has a significant impact on the agricultural sector development.

2.2.2. As production output

According to Mamudu A. et.al, (2021), irrigation increases total output in three ways. The first is
that irrigation augments water supply and helps to reduce crop losses through erratic rainfall.
Additionally, irrigation permits multiple and continuous cropping in a year and hence total farm
output increases per parcel of land in a year. Finally, in areas where land is available but water

13
supply is minimal or seasonal, irrigation allows for intensive crop cultivation. In other words,
irrigation Sustainability brings about increases in output levels because of the use of
complimentary inputs such as fertilizers, high-yielding crop varieties and modernized technology
as experienced in the green revolution. In the same way, Dessale M. (2020) mentioned that
irrigation contributes to agricultural production in two ways: increasing crop yields, and enabling
farmers to increase cropping intensity and switch to high-value crops. Therefore, irrigation can
be an indispensable technological intervention to increase household income. Irrigation can
benefit the poor specifically through higher production, higher yields, lower risks of crop failure,
and higher and all year-round farm and non-farm employment.

2.2.3. As Consumption and Food security

According to the refined definition of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to
sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an
active and healthy life”. Poverty encompasses different dimensions of deprivation that relate to
human capabilities and is thus closely intertwined with food security. National food security is
when there is a satisfactory balance between food demand and food supply at reasonable prices.
But this is subject to the influence of the different factors which affect agricultural production,
including for example natural phenomena, population increase and market volatility. For
households to be assessed as foods secure their food consumption should be greater than their
needs as defined by the aggregate of individual requirements. For an individual to be food
secure, his or her food consumption should be greater than their needs as defined by
physiological requirements and also the earnings, assets and position in the household (FAO,
2014: Abayneh, 2016).

Household consumption, including food and non-food expenditures, is a critical measure of

standard of living. The extended supply of fresh food according to them leads to a reduction in
food prices and improvement in food security. In fact, the benefits of an extended fresh food
supply go beyond irrigators and irrigated communities for that matter (Mamudu A. et.al, 2021).
According to (Adetoso,et.al, 2022), the food consumption per capita expenditure of households
that participated in irrigation farming is significantly higher than households that did not
participate in irrigation farming. This implies that households that participated in irrigation

14
farming are more likely to increase their consumption per capita expenditure. In his study,
irrigation participants have greater potentials for more farm yields and income, which increases
the level of household consumption. Irrigation schemes will help to increase employment
opportunities and stabilized and increase rural wage rates and increase family consumption of
food through enhancing food availability, reducing levels of consumption shortfall, increasing of
irrigation incomes and reducing food prices thereby ensure food security.

2.2.4. As Employment opportunity

Iticha (2019) study introduced that irrigation requires labor, labor employment and real wages
rise slightly. But this labor demand effect on irrigation is not very strong due to the inelastic final
demand, which curtails output. According to his report the second direct effect on poverty is via
employment. There are two sources of additional demand for labor created by irrigation projects.
Irrigation projects firstly require labor for construction and on-going maintenance of canals,
wells and pumps etc. This is likely to be an important sector of employment for the poor,
especially the landless rural poor or rural households with excess labor or seasonal excess labor.
Secondly, increased farm output as a result of irrigation will stimulate demand for farm labor
both within the main cropping season and across new cropping seasons, increasing both numbers
of workers required and length of employment period.

Irrigation has several advantages, but one of the most important is the creation of jobs. Because
labor is one of the most important inputs in small-scale irrigated farming, skilled and
experienced laborers are critical to success. Family labor is the most common source of labor in
both irrigated and non-irrigated areas. Furthermore, labor demand is typically higher during peak
production periods, requiring farmers to recruit additional labor for transplanting, weeding, and
harvesting. Irrigation thus provides seasonal employment for individuals working on nearby
farms. When completing irrigation work, hired labor is compensated in cash, in kind, or both.
The irrigators are also employed by the irrigation system. Beneficiaries have moved from
harvesting once a year (during the rainy season) to two or three times a year, and labor efficiency
has improved because of irrigation. Similarly, the average labor cost for irrigation users
(estimated just for hired labor) is more than double that of non-user families (Ibsa Dawid, 2021).

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2.2.5. As Livelihood Improvement
According to Ibsa (2021), Small-scale irrigation has multiple effects on rural people’s livelihood
development. In this case, an attempt was made to determine whether irrigating farmers were
aware of the changes in their way of life. Small-scale irrigation has a favorable influence on food
security, asset ownership, and well-being of rural farm households, whether directly or
indirectly. Irrigation-based agricultural intensification may be the most effective technique for
poverty reduction and the promotion of sustainable rural livelihoods. Because of this specific
circumstance, irrigation user households have the chance to diversify their livelihood scenario.
Crop intensification, diversity, and market-oriented production, as outlined by, make food
available and affordable to both the poor and the wealthy.

According to Ahmed (2019), there are four interrelated mechanisms by which irrigated
agriculture can reduce poverty, through: (i) increasing production and income, and reduction of
food prices, that helps very poor households meet the basic needs and associated with
improvements in household overall economic welfare, (ii) protecting against risks of crop loss
due to erratic, unreliable or insufficient rainwater supplies, (iii) promoting greater use of yield
enhancing farm inputs and (iv) creation of additional employment, which together enables
people to move out of the poverty cycle. According to Ahmed (2019), the cash crop economy
with important cash flow offers a wide range of off-farm income possibilities as compared to
subsistence farming. The irrigation schemes increased households’ income compared to situation
before implementation of the schemes and thus contributed to improvement of household food
security status. The construction of small-scale irrigation schemes has resulted in increased
production, income, diet diversification; and reduced hungry months from 6 to 2 months (July
and August), increase in diversity of crops, shift from cereal livestock system to cereal-
vegetable-livestock system (IFAD, 2011). Irrigation benefits the poor through higher production;
higher yields, lower risk of crop failure, and higher and year-round farm employment. Therefore,
irrigation enables smallholders to adopt more diversified cropping patterns, and to switch from
low value staple production to high-value market-oriented production. Increased production
makes food available and affordable for the poor. Irrigation contributes to livelihood
improvement through increased income, food security, employment opportunity, social needs
fulfillment and poverty reduction (MoARD, 2012). The participation in irrigation use has

16
increased annual household farm income by 19,474.8 birr for participant households than non-
participant households and their physical asset holding which is valued 27502.4 ETB.

2.3 Factor affecting irrigation development in Ethiopia

The study has found that participation in irrigation is positively determined by age, education,
land size, access to extension service, and participation in of 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 linear regression with endogenous
treatment effects showed that irrigation technology use is positively related to crop yield, crop
income and household food security. In consistence, the impact analysis using propensity score
matching (PSM) also showed a significant and positive effect of irrigation technology use on
crop yield, crop income and household food security. (Yilma J.,et.al, 2021).

According to Ogunniyi (2018), to identify the factors that affect household use of irrigation
technology in the study area, the Logit model was used to generate propensity scores for
the matching algorithm. The pseudo-R-square indicates that about 10.6% of the variation
in the irrigation decision model can be explained through the included explanatory
variables. The overall model is statistically significant at a P-value of 0.006. Hence, the chosen
observable characteristics adequately explain the probability of use. The signs show the direction
of change in the probability of the farmers that adopted the irrigation technology given the
change in the explanatory variables. A positive sign shows increase in the probability of adoption
if irrigation technology while a negative explains the converse. The significant variables that
determine the adoption of the irrigation technology are education years, household size, rainfall
information, access to credit, regional dummies.

Based on the studies conducted in Ethiopia, the reviewer is intended to review the impact of
small-scale irrigation on smallholder farmers' income, food security, and health condition in
Ethiopia. Different documents carried out in Ethiopia were reviewed as the source. The income
of the smallholder farmers was improved positively and significantly due to practicing small-
scale irrigation as reviewed. Improved access to irrigation infrastructure will increase crop yield,
agricultural production and farm income within a region. However, the nature and scale of
feedback effects associated with irrigation access and their impacts on farm income and poverty
reduction process are not yet clearly understood or reported in irrigation literature (Ashu, 2022 ).
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the binary logistic regression model revealed that both the irrigation participants (37.3%) and the
nonparticipant (62.7%) families had a combination of personal and demographic, economic,
institutional, and social influencing factors that hinder their likelihood of using irrigation. HH
age, annual income of the household, distance from the closest farm sight, farm experience,
participation in training, access to irrigation, and sex of HH were positively and significantly
influencing factors in the model, while total ownership of livestock of households and health
status of households were negatively significant variables (Zemarku Zekarias,et.al, 2022)
2.4. Conceptual Framework
Access to irrigation activity enable farmers to intensify cultivation promotes to increase
productivity, higher production and great returns from farming. Irrigation agriculture has good
production, income generation, and poverty reduction, employment opportunity in arid and semi-
arid areas. The degree of income generation potential of irrigation is greatly determined by the
type of crop grown under irrigation, access to markets and institutional and policy support
measures. The following simple conceptual framework is developed to show the factors
influencing small scale irrigation and its implication on poverty reduction among farm
households.

Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework

Land holding size Farmers

Awareness
Access to credit  Increasing Productivity
 Lower Food price
 Increasing income
Contribution  Perform employment
Farmer of irrigation opportunity
training activity on the  Enhancing food availability
Education level welfare of
 Increase household
consumption

Market access

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 3. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
3.1. Conclusion
Agricultural activity is one source of human necessity that people obtain foods and generate
incomes. It is also considered as the backbone of most of the world’s country. But most of the
world’s country agricultural activity, is nature dependent i.e., rain fed. Due to nature dependence,
uncertainty of water availability and environmental factors challenge the maximum output that
are expected by the agrarian agents/farmers.

To mitigate the challenges due to the fluctuation of rainfall and other factors, irrigation
intensification is the crucial one and plays a large role to a farmer by increasing their agricultural
outputs and generating incomes from Cash crops.

Irrigation is an activity of mixing water with a soil to provide a moisture to a soil for the growth
of crops and plants. It is an activity that was practiced by the human being during an ancient
world in order to obtain a food.

Although irrigation activity is the basic agricultural intensification and contributes on farm
welfare through increasing of agricultural outputs, improve farm households’ consumption and
reduce poverty, still it is characterized by low irrigation expansion through the country.

3.2. Recommendation
Irrigation activity is an important development initiator to ensure farm income and reduce
poverty if it is properly implemented. However, based on the empirical findings that are taken
from different researches, there are some points missed that should not be forgotten. In this
seminar paper, the following recommendations are progressed.

 Give enough public awareness on the roles of irrigation activity

 The government and target bodies should supply improved inputs that will be profitable-
oriented and conditional-oriented inputs
 Government and NGO bodies should provide credit opportunity since access credit is the
sources of capital used for farmers to buy an inputs
 Distance from rivers had a significant and negative effect on the use of irrigation water
and the main sources of irrigation water in the study area are rivers. It is recommended
that the concerned bodies such as government, NGO and other stakeholders should

19
 emphasis on construction of new main irrigation canals for farmers whose farm land is
far from the rivers. Because it minimizes the distance from rivers and their irrigation site,
consequently, creates an opportunity to shift non-users to use irrigation water in the study
area.
 The National, Regional and local government of the country should pursue plan and
programs to develop irrigation activities to reduce poverty and create favorable
atmosphere for social change.

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