The Role of Irrigation in Household Food Security in Upper Blue Nile Basin: The Case of Jedeb Irrigation Scheme, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Food security is the main problem of many developing countries. To improve the food security problem small scale irrigation practice is vital. Demographic characteristics and resource of households as well as Agricultural production were collected using structured questionnaires. The collected data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 12) and Household food balance model. The findings of this study showed that farmers who have plot on the irrigation scheme were in better condition in terms of production, livestock holding, oxen ownership, and income than their partners with no plot on the scheme in 2008/09. The study also shows that 17.54 % and 40.62 % of irrigation users and non users are found to be food insecure respectively. The regression analysis showed that access to irrigation, income, farm size, house hold size, livestock holding, as well as oxen ownership are the major determinants of household food security in the study area. The study concludes that small-scale irrigation significantly contributed to household food security.