Challenges and Opportunities of Small-Scale Irrigation Practice in Abay Chomen District of Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia

Temesgen Hirko

doi:10.7176/rhss/11-17-03

Abstract

Ethiopian economy is highly dependent on agriculture which is dominated by traditional rain-fed small-scale farmers. The government is working on irrigation development giving special emphasis to research activities on irrigation at different scales. In this study, two-stage sampling technique was used to select 167 target respondents. The primary data were collected using an interview schedule and conducting focus group discussions and key informant interview. Various documents were reviewed to collect the secondary data. Moreover, different constraints related with lack of market access, topography associated with distance of land from water source, inadequate government support, and poor or nonexistent market linkage, poor irrigation water management and development were forwarded by the participants. To solve the problems and improve small-scale irrigation practice, the government, should attempt to hamper factors that hinder small-scale irrigation practice and enhance factors that initiates small-scale irrigation practice. Keywords : Abay Chomen District, Challenges, Opportunities, Small-Scale Irrigation Practice DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-17-03 Publication date: September 30 th 2021

Highlights

IntroductionEthiopian agricultural practice has been traditionally dominated for centuries by small-scale farmers and its performance has long been adversely affected by shortage of rain and water that left many to sustain their lives on famine relief support (Abebe et al, 2011)
Agriculture is the backbone of Ethiopian Economy
The lower number of the farmers use modern micro dam. This was the micro dam constructed by the Sustainable Land use and Management (SLM) project and the farmers around this project uses this modern micro dam irrigation

Summary

Introduction

Ethiopian agricultural practice has been traditionally dominated for centuries by small-scale farmers and its performance has long been adversely affected by shortage of rain and water that left many to sustain their lives on famine relief support (Abebe et al, 2011). A rapid increase in the area covered by irrigation, especially small-scale water use, provide farmers with opportunities to raise output on a sustainable basis and contribute to the reliability of food supplies (FAO, 2012). This indicates that there should be new means of production through irrigation water application by smallholder farmers rather than strongly relying on rain-fed agriculture. Increasing the opportunity and reducing the hindrance to irrigation participation needs to be made because irrigation is one means by which agricultural production can be increased to meet the growing food demands in Ethiopia, since agriculture still plays a critical role in the economy

Objectives

Results

Conclusion