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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the study

Ethiopia is one of the developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is an

Agrarian country in which Agriculture is the leading source of income,

employment and foreign exchange – hence, the National Economic growth of the

country is highly determined by the performance of Agriculture. The contribution

of the agricultural sector to national GDP (50%), employment (85%), export

earnings (90%), and supply of industrial raw materials (70%) has remained high

(MoARD, 2010). The sector is largely depends on rainfed production and is

dominated by smallholder farming systems. Hence, the ability of the nation to

address food and nutritional insecurity, poverty, and to stimulate and sustain

national economic growth and development is highly dependent on the

performance of agriculture.

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked at 173 out of 187

countries on the UNDP Human Development Index results made in 2013

(UNDP,2013). Despite the remarkable progress Ethiopia has registered in

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improving some of the HDI measurements, Ethiopia remains one of the poorest

and least developed countries in the world.

Its GDP per capita was $ 350 in 2010 compared to $ 809 for Kenya and $ 1,705

for Sudan (IMF 2011). About half of Ethiopia‘s GDP depends on agricultural

activity. Thus, the economy of Ethiopia is largely dependent on agriculture, and

about 85 percent of the population is engaged in it. The dependency on rainfed

agriculture coupled with the erratic nature of rainfall is the major factors blamed

for the poor performance of the agricultural sector and main cause of widespread

food insecurity in the country (FAO, 2008).

Ethiopia being a home of 83 million people with an average growth of 2.9 per

annum became the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan African

(UNDP, 2010). Its economic status is incompatible with the ever-increasing

number of population. The country has reasonably good resource potential for

development of agriculture, biodiversity, water resource, minerals etc. Yet, it is

faced with complex poverty, which is broad, deep and structural (MoFED, 2006).

Study by Eyasu(2005) also stated that with 22 major drought occurrence in the

past 40 years alone the country generally faces an annual cereal food deficit of

0.03-3.3 tons. On the other hand, it is endowed with a huge annual water

resource potential 110 billion m3, a potentially irrigable land of 5.3 million hectare.

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However, only about 3 billion m3 of the water resource and 190, 000 hectare of

the potentially irrigable land is utilized so far.

According to IWMI (2010) Ethiopia has vast cultivable land in which the estimates

vary between 30 and 70 Million hectare, but only about a third of that is currently

cultivated (approximately 15 Million hectare), with current irrigation schemes

covering about 640,000 hectare across the country. However, the estimated

total irrigable land potential in Ethiopia is only 5.3 Million hectare assuming use of

existing technologies, including 1.6 Million hectare through rain water harvest

and ground water. This means that there are potential opportunities to vastly

increase the amount of irrigated land.

Ethiopia has been suffering from food deficiency for a long time. Food scarcity

has been remained the major challenges for the government since 1991 as it

tries to increase food grain production to meet the demand of the nation‘s

growing population since the economy of an agrarian society is dominated by

agriculture and the livelihoods of the farmers are largely connected with intensive

agricultural production.

According to (Demese, Goshu, & Yaddesa, 2009) quoted Getinet (2011)

revealed the current yield levels by rural smallholders is not able to produce to

fulfill their minimum food requirements since one-third of the rural household

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owns less than 0.5 hectare of farming land that are dependent on rainfed

agriculture system. As MoFED (2010) has indicated priority is given for irrigation

development by the current government of Ethiopia to promote multiple cropping

of food and cash farming systems in order to cope up with the problem of climate

variability and ensure food security at household and national level (MoFED,

2010). It must therefore be recognized that implementation of Irrigation farming

system plays the key role in the performance of agriculture, which has a potential

to boom income growth and improve food security status.

Irrigation has served as one key driver behind growth in agricultural productivity,

increasing household income which highlights the various ways that irrigation

could have an impact on household food security. In this regard Zhou et al.

(2009) identified 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, the evidence seems to indicate that

irrigation can be an indispensable technological intervention to increase

household income and food security status.

Taking into account the potentials of water resource and the problems of food

insecurity, population increase, and limited rainfall, agricultural development has

been a priority for Ethiopian government since 1991. The Agricultural

Development-Led Industrialization (ADLI) development strategy adopted in 1992

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has set irrigation as a major pillar to increase food production and to achieve

food self-sufficiency for the country. In response to the potential benefits of

irrigation and the low adoption rates in rural areas, Ethiopian government aimed

at promoting small-scale irrigation technology.

To this effect, this study has been focused on assessing and analyzing the

impact of Small-Scale Irrigation and its management systems on household food

security and income level. The study will based on a comparative analysis of

irrigators (irrigation users) and non-irrigators (non-irrigation users), and mainly

concentrated at food security and incomes level for both categories at household

level.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

Agricultural production in Ethiopia is primarily rain fed, so it depends on erratic

and often insufficient rainfall. As a result, there are frequent failures of agricultural

production and hence the country has been experienced having incidents of

drought that have led to food insecurity in most rural households especially

among small-scale farmers. This is mainly because their economy is dependent

on rain fed agriculture and hence their food is of stake with the frequent incidents

of droughts.

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Cognizant to this fact, a lot of effort has been made by government, development

partners and communities to improve the food security situation of smallholders

through creating access to irrigated agriculture. Currently, the Ethiopian

government gives more emphasis to small-scale irrigation as a means of

achieving food self-sufficiency). Therefore with irrigation supplementing the

provision of water, farmers are able to alleviate the problem of household food

insecurity (MoFED, 2010). Due to this fact, it is important to assess the extent of

food availability by using Sirima and Bora-Galmo Small Scale irrigation schemes

from the point of contributing to ensure household food security, income level

and assesses their management system to enhance agricultural productivity and

the living standard of rural households.

Taking this in to cognizance, the objective of this study focuses on the analysis of

the impact of selected small-scale irrigation schemes on household gross income

and enhancing household food security in drought prone area of Bale Zone,

Berbere district, Ethiopia. It helps to explore important actions and knowledge

that will be used in planning and targeting of development programs, research

and extension and policy issues in particular for the study area and the country in

general.

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1.3. Aim and Objectives

Realizing that the problem of food insecurity cannot be solved solely through rain

fed agriculture, the government of Ethiopia has already taken initiatives towards

developing irrigation schemes in different parts of the country to ensure food

security. Berbere district is among such areas where small- scale irrigation

schemes are being practiced. The aim of the study is to evaluate the extent to

which small scale irrigation schemes are contributing to ensure household food

security and increase income level of the households in the selected research

area.

The research focuses on the following specific objectives:-

o To investigate the impact of Small scale irrigation schemes on the

households food security in the study area;

o To examine the effects of small-scale irrigation on the gross income at

household level;

o To measure household food security status of farm households in the

study area;

o To identify determinants of household food security at household level in

the study area;

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o To assess the major problems and management system of the two

irrigation schemes, for obtaining optimum utilization of the water resources

and its role in enhancing food security in the study area.

1.4. Hypotheses

Based on the objectives of the study the following hypotheses are formulated:

The two irrigation schemes in the study area have ensured

household food security through an increase in agricultural production and

income level,

There is a trade-off between income of irrigator and non-irrigator

households in the study site.

Irrigation raises household agricultural production per hectare,

therefore, the gain in agricultural production induced by irrigation yield

booms household income and hence food security status.

Effective and sustainable management system of irrigation water

sources has progressive positive impact on household food security.

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1.5. Significance of the Study

The main significance of the research endeavor is that assessing the household

food security situation will be helpful to identify and understand the basic aspect

of welfare of the population and to inform groups or areas with severe conditions

so as to take solution by concerned bodies. At grass root level, determining the

food security status of the households comprising the community can provide an

indispensable tool for assessment and planning. Particularly, this study can help

planners, policy makers, service providers, development actors in both

governmental and non-governmental organizations working the area, and the

local community at large to assess the changing needs for assistance and the

effectiveness of existing programs in the study area.

On the other hand, identifying, analyzing and understanding the impact of small

scale irrigation on household food security and gross income, and assessing the

management of small scale irrigation schemes would contribute to the

sustainable improvement of household food security, better management of

small scale irrigation systems and executing the government strategy of poverty

reduction.

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Moreover, the result of this study can also be used as an input for researchers

involved in similar thematic area to further knowledge generation in concepts

related to irrigation development and food security in drought prone areas of

Ethiopia.

1.6. Scope and Limitation of the study

This paper focuses primarily on assessing the role of small scale irrigation in

enhancing agricultural production and ensuring food security at household level.

Hence, this research was made to assess the impact of small-scale irrigation on

households‘ income and food security level in one of the drought prone district of

Bale Zone of the Oromiya Regional State. This study is done in two modern

small scale irrigation schemes serving two drought affected PAs in Berbere

district.

The research work has some limitations in the process of data collection. One of

the major constraints faced during the data gathering was shortage of financial

resources (it was undertaken through researcher‘s personal means); as a result,

it could not venture to investigate the wider environmental coverage and the

study was restricted to limited number of sample households. It was limited to

cover only two PAS of the District from which a total sample of 300 households

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were drawn. Moreover, Due to budget constraints the study is limited to using

household level production data of only two crop seasons (periods) rather than

time series data of the area.

In addition to the above limitations, there was also problem of linking the socio-

economic data obtained through household survey with the spatial data and

hence generating thematic maps for the study area. This is mainly because of

the lack of village level maps created by the modern land registration system

(cadastral map). Land registration using the modern cadastral survey method is

at its beginning stage in Ethiopia, especially for the rural landholding registration.

Even if there is a strong move towards preparing household level landholding

size supported by this technology, much of the rural areas in Oromia including

the current study sites area not yet covered by the cadastral mapping. Therefore,

the lack of village and household level maps hampered the preparation of

thematic maps that could have been used for illustrating the spatial attributes of

the study area.

1.7. Organization of the Thesis

The thesis is organized in eight chapters. Chapter one is about an introduction of

the study, which contains general background of the study, statement of the

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problem, research aim and objectives, Hypotheses and significance of the study.

In chapter two, a related literature review concerning concepts and issues on

small scale irrigation and food security, its impacts on global, national and

household level food security is discussed. Chapter three is concerned with brief

description of the study area and research methodology. Chapter four goes on

dealing with the demographic and endowment characteristics of households.

Analysis of households‘ income and its source are presented and discussed in

the fifth chapter. Chapter six deal with description of problems of small-scale

irrigation development and management system. Chapter seven focus on the

food security analysis by access to irrigation. Finally chapter eight presents

summary and conclusions based on the findings of the research.