IMPACT OF SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION ON FARM HOUSEHOLDS’ FOOD SECURITY: THE CASE OF GIRANA IRRIGATION SCHEME IN KOBO DISTRICT, NORTH WOLLO ZONE OF AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA

In Ethiopia, small scale irrigation is thought to be one of the most useful irrigation systems which has a profound impact on food security through increasing income and production. Therefore, the study focused on the impact of small scale irrigation on farm household food security with specific reference to Kobo District of Amhara Regional State. The specific objectives of the study were to identify factors affecting households’ participation in small scale irrigation and its impact on farm households’ food security. A multi- stage random sampling technique was employed to select sample households. The primary cross sectional data were collected from 180 sample households’ and analysis was carried out with the help of descriptive statistics and econometric models. The study used PSM model to analyze impacts of small scale irrigation on food security while Logit model was used to identify factors affecting household participation decision in small scale irrigation. In the logit regression model a total of twelve explanatory variables were included in the model of which seven were significant. The significant variables that are found to determine households’ participation in small scale irrigation were age of household head, dependency ratio, distance from irrigation water source, distance to the nearest market, cultivated land size, livestock holding and off/non –farm income. The intervention in small scale irrigation revealed significant mean difference between two groups in terms of daily calorie intake and household consumption expenditure per adult equivalent. Using PSM (kernel matching with band width of 0.25) it was found that participation in small scale irrigation increased daily caloric intake and household consumption expenditure by 907.07kcal and 2593.92birr, respectively, over non-participant households. The sensitivity analysis result showed that the impact estimates on significant outcome variables were insensitive to unobserved selection bias. Thus, creating awareness on family planning, strengthening crop-livestock production, construction of irrigation schemes, arranging training and experience sharing to elder farmers, provision of market information and infrastructure and promoting off/non-farm income should be a policy priority and concern to enhance farm households’ participation decision in small-scale irrigation for improving food security.