Abstract:
Irrigation is one of the instruments to overcome the adverse effect climate change on banana
production. Assessing the impact of irrigation on banana helps to provide information to the
development planers by examining the extent to which a scheme has caused desired changes on
the participant’s household wellbeing. This study analyzed the impact of small-scale irrigation
on annual banana production in the study area. Three stage sampling technique was employed
to select sample households. Data was collected from 383 household heads and analysis was
done with the help of various descriptive and econometric techniques. Propensity score matching
model was used to achieve the objective of the study. A logit model was used to analyze the
potential variable affecting household participation in small-scale irrigation. The result
indicates that, participation in small-scale irrigation is influenced by education status of the
household head, sex of the household, family size, labor size in man equivalent, total cultivated
land and by frequency of extension contact from these, five variables were affect participation
decision positively and significantly but one variable (total cultivated land) is affect negatively
but significant at 5% significance level. Average treatment effect on treated (ATT) result shows
that participate in irrigation schemes increase banana production approximately by 209.58
quintals per hectare. However, there are factors that hinder households to use irrigation water
in the study area, which needs attention. Therefore collective actions are advisable to improve
and sustain the positive impact of irrigation on banana production in the area.