IMPACT OF SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION USE ON HOUSEHOLD VEGETABLE PRODUCTION AND FOOD SECURITY: THE CASE OF SODDO DISTRICT, GURAGE ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

For most Ethiopian rural households, food insecurity has been the most critical concern. Small-scale irrigation is among the first measures in increasing vegetable production, diversifying household assets and income, and improving household food security. This study measured the impact of small-scale irrigation use on household vegetable production and food security using outcome indicators of household food consumption score, household dietary diversity score and yield of onion. The irrigation users' and non-users’ households' food security status was evaluated using both primary and secondary data. Mainly, primary data was collected through structured questionnaires from 240 households by selecting 100 (41.67%) irrigation users and 140 (58.33%) non-irrigation users from four kebeles using random sampling methods. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, inferential statistical tools, and an economic model. The descriptive result indicates that there is a statistically significant mean difference between participant and non-participant households regarding age, extension contact, non-farm activity participation, credit access, distance from irrigation water source, livestock holding, training access, and landholding size of households. The impact of small-scale irrigation on household vegetable production and food security was studied using PSM methods. A cross-sectional survey and quasi-experimental methods of sample households were used in this study. The matching algorithm used was kernel matching with a bandwidth of 0.1. The quality of covariate balancing was tested using pseudo R2, mean bias, and the t-test. Results of the econometric analysis and descriptive results showed that those households (which) irrigation users have higher dietary, food consumption scores and got high onion yield than non-users. This study suggests that the promotion of access to irrigation can increase the yield of onion and improve household food security in the district