Determinants of Small-Scale Irrigation Utilization by Smallholder Farmers’ in Rift Valley Basin, Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to identify factors that determine household’s participation decision on small-scale irrigation and to assess the constraints for the development and management of irrigation schemes in the study area. In this study multi-stage sampling techniques were used to select 150 target respondents in which 90 irrigation users and 60 non-irrigation user. To collect the required data several methods like interview schedule, focus group discussions and key informant interview were used. Various documents were reviewed to collect the secondary data. To analyze the data, binary logit model was used to identify the determinants of small-scale irrigation utilization. The findings of the study revealed that among the sixteen explanatory variables entered into the model, eight of them were found to be statistically significant. These variables include total income of the household, conflict over irrigation water utilization, training and technical advice, education status of household head, farm size, financial constraint, proportion of irrigated land size, and access to market information. Most of the coefficients of these variables exhibited the expected signs with the hypothesis. Besides, different constraints related with poor technology choice, conflicts in water use and use rights, lack of market access, lack of training on irrigation technologies, lack of irrigation structure maintenance, absence of government support, and poor linkage between research and extension services in the area of irrigation water management and development were forwarded by the participants. Therefore, to alleviate these problems and improve small-scale irrigation utilization, woreda agricultural and rural development office and other concerned bodies should attempt to address those factors that hinder small-scale irrigation utilization in the study area.

Keywords: Binary logit model, Determinants, Small-scale irrigation, Smallholder farmer