Comparative Analysis of Small Scale Irrigation in Selected Rural Kebeles of Harari Regional State, Ethiopia

Livelihoods of the rural people of Ethiopia depend on agriculture. However, erratic nature of rain and prevalence of drought in the country, particularly in the low lands make agricultural production a challenge. To counter this problem, use of the Small Scale Irrigation is one of the most promising options. Erer Small Scale Irrigation development was carried out in four rural Kebeles (lowest administrative division) of Erer with the aim of improving the socio-economic level of the small-scale farming households. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of Small Scale Irrigation scheme on livelihoods and food consumptions level of small-scale farming households. Both quantitative and qualitative data were used in the investigation of the impacts of the scheme on rural small-scale farming households. The two purposively sampled kebeles, namely Woldya and Dodota, were selected because of their accessibility and existence of large number of irrigation users than the other two kebeles. The sampling frame of the study consists of 1113 Household Heads. The required data set for the study were gathered primarily through survey method from 294 randomly selected sample household heads both from irrigation users and non-users, i.e. 91 and 203 Household Heads, respectively. Semi-structured interview was also used as data collection method. The analysis which was conducted between the irrigating and non-irrigating respondents allowed the comparison in order to identify the socio-economic impacts of the Small Scale Irrigation Scheme. The comparison between the two groups’ socio-economic level and the independent variables were analyzed using chi-square and independent samples Mann-Whitney U-tests with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences-20. The dependent variables used to capture households’ socio-economic level were household’s total assets, gross income and access to social services. In general, the result reveals that small scale irrigations have a positive impact on social and economic well being of households. Consequently, this empirical analysis, like many other similar studies, confirms that small-scale irrigation development would have positive impacts on socio-economic development through increasing crop diversification, cropping intensity, and crop yield at household level. This intern has a direct positive effect in raising gross farm incomes and increasing farmers’ household consumption. Moreover, the increased income from higher yields helped irrigated farmers to diversify their assets holdings like houses, farm tools, house furnishings, and other materials which also have an effect in increasing household income gains.