MA.

Proposal

On
Assessment of the Impact of Small-Scale Irrigation Development for Household Livelihood and Rural

Transformation: The Case of Gubalafto Woreda, North

Wollo Zone By

Dereje Mengistie
Advisor : Satya Kurma (PhD) January, 2012

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Some 17% (250 million hectares) of the worlds agricultural land are irrigated and account for more

than one-third of global food production (Smith, 1988).

Regarding the total irrigation area, Africa south of the Sahara irrigates some 5 million hectares (1990) and the

irrigated area has been growing at a rate of 5% per year

in 1965-74 and less than 4 % a year in 1974-1982 (FAO, 1986).

In Ethiopia, irrigation development is a priority for

agricultural

transformation,

but

poor

practices

of

irrigation management relegate efforts to improve livelihoods, and expose people and environment to risks.

Assessing the impact of irrigation development on

people livelihoods is essential to understand the impact of the irrigation programs on rural livelihood as this can pave a path for forthcoming irrigation projects development (IDD, 1992).

In areas where there is recurrent drought or rainfall is unreliable, participatory irrigation development, provision of adequate and sustainable water for agricultural is a viable option to cope against climatic externalities and for rural household

transformation and thereby secure food production

(Estifanos, 2010).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The economy of Ethiopia and majority of the people's livelihoods are dependent on agriculture, there are also key challenges that need to be addressed attain the in transforming and agriculture sustainable by socioovercoming a multitude of problems in order to (PASDEP) economic growth of the country (Seleshi, 2008).

For Ethiopia increasing agricultural productivity, enabling households to generate more income, increase their resilience as well as to transform their livelihoods is the most pressing agenda now and for the coming decades. In most parts of Ethiopia, production from rainfed agriculture is highly fluctuates corresponding to the amount and distribution of

rainfall. When there is too little rainfall with

uneven distribution, crop failure is unavoidable.

Now days, small-scale irrigation is a policy priority in Ethiopia for rural poverty alleviation and growth as well

as climate change adaptation (MOFED, 2006).

Only around 5% of Ethiopia's irrigable land is irrigated (WB, 2006), and less than 5% of total renewable water resources are withdrawn annually (FAO, 2005). At present, only about 3 to 5% of the irrigable land is

under irrigation while the irrigation potential has been estimated to be about 4.25 million hectares of arable land (RiPPLE, 2010).

Gubalafto is one of the 105 Woredas of the Amhara Region

which persistently affected by recurrent drought also has many rivers, but they are underutilized by the households. The large parts of the Woreda's agriculture are increasingly susceptible to recurrent drought and climatic hazards. As a result, the peoples are suffering from chronic food insecurity problem.

Therefore, development of integrated small scale irrigation

projects should be essential in order to reduce the prevailing chronic food insecurity problems of the people of the Woreda and to enhance their livelihoods and thereby to transform the livelihood of the rural community in general .

Because, small-scale irrigation developments are essential to:

increase rural peoples asset accumulation,
livelihood diversification, Access to utility and goods and services, high productivity and high agricultural intensification, high employment opportunity, calorie intake and nutrition, and income variance and resilience to risk and increase participation

in the community decisions.

Transform the livelihoods of rural community

Even though practicing of small-scale irrigation activities in the Woreda go back many years, now a days, there are only few recently upgraded irrigation schemes with the prime aim of

ensuring household food security and improving the living

standard of the farming community of the Woreda. So far, there are only limited studies on the socio-economic impact of small irrigation development on household livelihood and rural transformation in North Wollo Zone in general and in Gubalafto Woreda in particular. Therefore, this study will look at the impacts of small-scale irrigation for household livelihood and rural transformation in Gubalafto Woreda, North Wollo Zone of Amhara Region.

1.3 Objective of the Study

1.3.1 General Objective

The general objective of this study is to assess the

overall impact of small-scale irrigation development in ensuring household livelihood and rural transformation and to identify major constraints of small-scale irrigation development conditions of the rural households in Gubalafto Woreda of North Wollo Zone.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of this study are to: 1) Assess the overall impacts of small-scale irrigation schemes in relevance with household livelihood and rural transformation in the study area; 2) Examine the impacts of small-scale irrigation on the socio-economic conditions of the households; 3) Identify the major constraints encountered in the use of small-scale irrigation development systems in the study area; 4) Determine the difference in prevalence of poverty between smallscale irrigating and non-irrigating households; and 5) Identify the efforts to be made to improve the performance of smallscale irrigation schemes.

1.4. Research Questions

1.

What are the impacts of small-scale irrigation in

achieving household livelihood and rural transformation?

2.
3. 4. 5.

How does the impact of small-scale irrigation on the

socio-economic conditions of the households look like? What are the major constraints encountered the use of

small-scale irrigation development in the study area?

How is the probability of poverty between small-scale irrigating and non-irrigating households? What are the efforts made to improve the performance of small-scale irrigation schemes?

1.5 Scope of the Study The scope of this study is to assess the impact of smallscale irrigation development for household livelihood and rural of transformation, small-scale major challenges efforts and in constraints of small-scale irrigation, socio-economic impact irrigation, made improving the performance of small-scale irrigation schemes, and management and operation activities of irrigation in selected (Sanka, Gimbora and Alwoha) small-scale irrigation schemes of Gubalafto Woreda, North Wollo Zone.

1.6 Significance of the Study It could be used as an input for other researchers who are interested to do related with this field. It attempts to provide realistic information on the overall impacts of small-scale irrigation

development for household livelihood and rural

transformation.

1.8 Methodology
1.8.1 Research Design For this study, descriptive survey method will be employed. Instruments such as questionnaires, interviews and relevant document analysis will also be used.

1.8.2 Sampling Techniques For the purpose of this study, three irrigation schemes will be purposively selected from the six irrigation schemes of the Woreda. Namely: Sanka irrigation scheme (Woyneye PA),

Gimbora irrigation scheme (Gedober PA) and

Alwoha irrigation scheme (Alwoha PA).

For this study, sample households from each irrigation scheme and kebele will be selected proportionally. The sample populations will be stratified into two groups of irrigators (treatment) and non- irrigators (control) and they will be sorted alphabetically to use random tables then the overall sample size will be determined. The objective is to carefully examine and compare the income and poverty level of small-scale irrigation users and non-users.

Therefore, in order to select the total sample households, the

researcher will apply the following proportional sample size

determination formula of Yamane (1967); n= N 1+ N (e) 2

Where: n= the number of required sample of each irrigation scheme (sample size) N=total households of each irrigation scheme (population size) e= Confidence level (level of precision i.e. 95%) N= total households of the three irrigation schemes

The required sample households of each irrigation scheme (n) can be therefore, calculated by using the following formula; n1= N1 (n) N

As a result of this formula,

Sanka IS (Total Population=2014)

Irrigator 514 Non-irrigator 1500 Irrigator 1008 Non-irrigator 800 Irrigator 1352 Non-irrigator 112 37 107 72 57 97 8 144

Gimbora IS (Total Population=1808)

129

Alwoha IS (Total Population=1464)

105

The total irrigator and non-irrigator sample size=206 and 172 respectively. Therefore, the over all sample size households will be 378.

Finally, the interviewees of the treatment and control groups will be selected by using systematic sampling method and the tick point will be determined by using lottery method.

1.8.4 Data Collection Instruments and Data Sources To achieve the stated objectives, data will be collected

from both primary and secondary sources.

The primary data sources will be gathered through structured and semi-structure questionnaires and observation from:
sampled farmers who are living in the same kebeles of the selected irrigation schemes; Development Agents (DAs) who are working in the woreda;

Agriculture and Rural Development experts who are

working in the selected irrigation schemes; Village elders of the selected schemes.

The questionnaires which will be administered to the

irrigator sampled households will be different from

that of the non-irrigator sampled households. For the sake of checking the reliability few pretesting, semi-structured for the questionnaires few randomly will be

administered

selected

households of out of the study area.

And based on the results of that, some possible adjustments on the questionnaire will be made.

In addition to this; Transect walks; Household Survey; Focus Group Discussion; and Key Informant Interview, will be applied.

Secondary data Sources will be gathered from published and

unpublished records and reports will be obtained mainly from the following institutions; North Wollo Zone of Agriculture and rural development office,

Gubalafto Woreda Agriculture and rural development office,

NGOs working in the study area will be interviewed. Literatures related to irrigation development and household

livelihood issues from internet , libraries and other institutions

will also be incorporated.

1.8.5 Methods of Data Analysis and Interpretation

The data generated from primary and secondary sources through questionnaires, key informant interview, transect walk, observation and formal and informal discussions will be analyzed and interpreted qualitatively and quantitatively.

Qualitative data The qualitative data will be used to explain the relationship

between the variables.

And they will be analyzed through systematically organizing the information and giving attention to local situations, opinions, perceptions and preferences of households and institutions operating in the Woreda and the Zone at the study area.

Quantitative data
The survey data will be recorded and organized in a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet. Analyses will be carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS,

Version-19); Cronbach's alpha test will be used to measure the reliability of

the questionnaire, simple and relevant statistical methods such as average, percentage and frequency distribution, Test Statistics will be used. In order to see the socio-economic impact of irrigation schemes, comparative analyses will be made between irrigation and non-irrigation households of the study area. The effect of small-scale irrigation on irrigation participating and nonparticipating households will be evaluated using descriptive statistics such as average, percentage, minimum, maximum and frequency distributions.

In order to characterize the selected small-scale irrigation systems, the major problems encountered in relation with irrigation systems, the reason why non-irrigating households do

not irrigate will be developed using structured checklists.

And to show to what extent or degree theses major problems encountered affect households from involving in irrigation activities, Linear Regression Model (LRM) will be applied. A print-and-verify method of data entry checking will be performed to avoid errors in the recording process. So that the missing values, zeros and inapplicable values will be identified for verification.

For delineation of the study area and to map the sampled irrigation schemes of the study area, GIS

and RS computer software and GPS point data will

be used. The analysis will be supplemented with visual photographs recorded during field observation of the researcher.

Thank You !!