Importance of Irrigated Agriculture to the Ethiopian Economy: Capturing the direct net benefits of irrigation

Abstract

RESEARCH IWMI R E P O R T I n t e r n a t i o n a l Water Management I n s t i t u t e Research ReportsThe publications in this series cover a wide range of subjects-from computer modeling to experience with water user associations-and vary in content from directly applicable research to more basic studies, on which applied work ultimately depends. Some research reports are narrowly focused, analytical and detailed empirical studies; others are wide-ranging and synthetic overviews of generic problems.Although most of the reports are published by IWMI staff and their collaborators, we welcome contributions from others. Each report is reviewed internally by IWMI's own staff and Fellows, and by external reviewers. The reports are published and distributed both in hard copy and electronically (www.iwmi.org) and where possible all data and analyses will be available as separate downloadable files. Reports may be copied freely and cited with due acknowledgment. About IWMIIWMI's mission is to improve the management of land and water resources for food, livelihoods and the environment. In serving this mission, IWMI concentrates on the integration of policies, technologies and management systems to achieve workable solutions to real problems-practical, relevant results in the field of irrigation and water and land resources.

Agricultural water management and poverty in Ethiopia

“…Details of the sample households by type of technology from the four regions are given below in Table 3. The poverty impacts of AWM technologies were assessed using standard poverty analysis techniques (Foster et al 1984) to explore whether those with access to AWM technologies have higher consumption expenditure per adult equivalent than those without access (for details see Hagos et al, 2008) The poverty analysis followed six steps. First, we chose household consumption expenditure as a welfare measure, and adjusted this for the size and composition of the household.…”

“…These initiatives are, however, at very small scales, and the contribution of irrigation to the economy is insignificant. According to Hagos et al (2008), irrigated agriculture contributed only 5.7% and 2.5% of Ethiopian agricultural output in 2005 and 2006, respectively. This is despite the relatively high efficiency of smallholder managed irrigation systems.…”

“…When the treated (ATT) and control households were matched on the basis of their similarity scores using nearest neighbor, kernel and stratification methods, there was a significant effect on household income of using AWM technologies for all three matching methods (Table 5). For details of the methods see Hagos et al (2008). The estimated average annual income of the AWM users is about ETB 780 (USD 82) higher than income of the non-users using all methods.…”

Review on participatory small-scale irrigation schemes and small-scale rainwater harvesting technology development and its contribution to household food security in Ethiopia

“…Today, most of the world's food production comes from cultivated area. Over 86% of undeveloped irrigation potential in 5 main regions showing large investment opportunities (Hagos et al, 2010).…”

“…Both traditional and modern SSIS are farmer-managed irrigation systems with their own local leadership of water users' associations or irrigation cooperatives, assisted by public extension systems (Awulachew et al, 2005). Traditional water management institutions have established with their own initiatives based on their local experience and indigenous knowledge, and perform better than modern water management institutions, such as the Water Users' Association (WUA) and irrigation users' cooperatives (IUCs) which were established through government initiatives (Hagos et al, 2010). The SSIS in Ethiopia are understood to include traditional small-scale schemes up to 100 ha and modern communal schemes up to 200 ha (Hagos et al, 2010).…”