Abstract:
Being the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, agricultural practice has been traditionally
dominated for centuries by small-scale farmers. Even though small-scale irrigation is practiced in
the study area, its impact on household income is not analyzed. The main objective of this study was
to assess the impact of small-scale irrigation on household income in Nyangatom Woreda, Southern
Ethiopia. The study employed mixed methods approach. A proportional stratified sampling method
was used to select a total of 130 households from three rural Kebele administrations. Simple random
sampling techniques were employed to select the respondents within the strata. Relevant primary and
secondary data were collected to address the objectives of the study. The primary data were collected
from randomly selected 68 irrigation user households and 62 non-user households drawn based on
proportion to population size. Secondary data were collected from a review of relevant related pieces
of literature. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the
collected data. Multi-nominal Logistic regression Model by Breusch-Pagen test was employed to
assess impacts of variables on farm income of the household which is (chi2=78.35). As the study
showed, irrigation user households obtained higher mean annual income(32108.86 ETB) from
livestock, cash crop, cereal crop, and off-farm activities compared to non-irrigation user
households(22519.32 ETB). The study result indicated that, sex of the household, accessibility of
irrigation water, application of agricultural input, cultivated land size, total livestock holding,
accessibility of credit, accessibility of extension service, and participation in non-farm and off-farm
activity were showed statistically significant factors of household income (F (8, 130) = 114.29, p <
.0005)). Governmental and other stakeholders should give attention to the expansion of small-scale
irrigation to secure the livelihoods of rural households.
