The Livelihoods Impacts of Irrigation in Western Africa: The Ghana Experience

Abstract

Although agriculture remains the mainstay of the African economy, it is currently going through stress because of a multitude of factors including climate change. Thus, many countries in their efforts to transform their agricultural sectors are employing climate-smart initiatives including the provision of water harvesting technologies for irrigated crop production during the dry season. This paper examines the role of irrigation in the drive towards a transformation of smallholder agriculture in Africa. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews and individual questionnaires were employed for the data collection. The data were analyzed using the regression adjustment (RA) technique. The results indicate that irrigation has significant and positive impacts on farm incomes, employment, consumption, food security and non-farm businesses, all of which are necessary conditions for a successful transformation of smallholder agriculture in Africa. The impacts of irrigation on health and environmental sustainability are mixed—the positive being the ability of irrigators to pay for improved healthcare for their families and the negatives include the outbreak of waterborne diseases associated with irrigation water. Construction of irrigation facilities causes destruction to the environment but improves provisioning ecosystem services. It is generally concluded that access to irrigation is associated with higher farm incomes, employment, consumption, food security and engagement in non-farm business activities. The key policy implication of these findings is that African governments must formulate strategic policies that will accelerate investments in the provision of irrigation facilities to better promote the agenda to transform smallholder agriculture in the continent.

Smallholder irrigation and poverty reduction in developing countries: a review

“…There is evidence which suggests that irrigation contributes to household food security [ [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] ], livelihoods of the rural poor [ [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] ], agricultural intensification and productivity [ [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] ], and poverty reduction [ 9 , 26 , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] ]. Among other factors like type of system, availability of water resources, soil fertility, access to credit and markets, the socio-economic impact of smallholder irrigation largely determines the success and sustainability of the project [ 16 ].…”

“…The contribution of smallholder irrigation to farmers’ livelihoods has also been an area of interest to researchers. It is often argued that smallholder irrigation can be a basis for rural development and improved livelihoods in rural poor communities [ 35 , 36 , 38 ]. Four studies were included in the review to assess the contribution of smallholder irrigation to livelihoods (see Table 4 ).…”

“…All the studies reviewed reported that smallholder irrigation had a positive contribution to livelihoods. For instance, a study conducted by Akudugu et al [ 36 ] in Ghana examined the impacts of irrigation on farmers’ livelihoods. The study found that the average farm income level per year was higher (US$713.29) in communities with irrigation facilities than in communities without irrigation (US$493.91) (P < 0.01).…”

“…Content, discourse, and thematic analyses were mainly used to determine the findings. Despite the multifaceted nature of food security, livelihoods and poverty, only a few studies have employed the mixed methods approach [ 35 , 36 ]. The mixed methods approach allows researchers to triangulate and cross-validate their findings.…”

A Scale to Measure the Livelihood Security of Farmers in Kolar from Koramangala-Challagatta Valley (K.C. Valley) Project of Karnataka

“…Akudugu [6] revealed that the immediate and direct impact of irrigation on livelihoods farmers in the community were involved in irrigated agriculture, the average farm income would have been about GHS 1881.80 (USD 493.91) and this was found to be significant at 1%. With the presence of irrigation facilities across the communities, the average farm income is about GHS 2717.62 (USD 713.29) and this was found to be statistically significant at 1%.…”