Agricultural and Biological Research

Household income difference between irrigation user and non-users: Evidences in Southern Tigray, Ethiopia

Moges Girmay Phogella* and Workie Sahlu Anbaw

Agricultural production in Ethiopia is mainly rainfed, which is characterized by its erratic and often inadequate nature. To solve the challenge, it is crucial to shift and expand irrigation agriculture. The aim of this study is to analyse the role of small-scale irrigation on household income improvement in Ayba and Atsela kebelles of Southern Tigray. To achieve its objective, this study used descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, frequency of appearance and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) econometric model.

The ATT show that the farm income is highly affected when the smallholder farmers are participated in small-scale irrigated farming. In conclusion, this empirical finding suggests that access to irrigation was improved income of treated households in a significant way. Therefore, to make considerable improvement on household income actions should be taken by household heads, government of Ethiopia, national and international organizations to increase households’ participation in irrigation activities.