Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The productivities (land and water) of the irrigation technologies were
compared. A regression analysis was used to generate a relationship between
crop yield and fertilizer input, water source and water application method.
The final stage of the analysis looked at the socio-economic impact of the
irrigation technologies in terms of farmer profit, labour creation and the
involvement of female farmers. This section starts with describing the various
irrigation technologies, distinguishing their various sources of water.
The data analysis was aggregated for irrigation technologies and country,
meaning that farmers using the same technology on one side of the border
were assessed together irrespective of the watershed they were located in. All
data are analysed based on the farm size of the farmer and results have been
normalised for a 1ha farm size.
6.3.1
Investments in water and seasonal
expenditure on water
Investment in infrastructure and equipment for irrigation is either by
government, development agency or private individual or group of
individuals. In the White Volta sub-basin governments and development
agencies invest in the development of large reservoir irrigation schemes and
small reservoirs, while other technologies in the sub-basin are developed by
private individuals or farmer groups. From Table 6.2, investing in the large
reservoir is cheaper than the small reservoir as a result of the economies of
scale. The bigger the irrigation project the cheaper the cost per unit area.
This is comparable to the difference in cost of irrigation development in sub-
Saharan Africa and other developing countries mentioned in Chapter 3.
Farmers irrigating from the large reservoir scheme are charged US$56/ha for
irrigating a tomato crop, US$42/ha for rice and US$28/ha for vegetables.
This fee has to be paid before the irrigation commences. Under the small
reservoir irrigation technologies water levies are charged differently. While at
some small reservoirs water is charged per bed (US$0.2/bed size of 1m x
50m), at others farmers are charged per plot (US$1/plot area of 0.05 ha),
and the rest are charged a general fee irrespective of farm size cultivated
(US$2/farmer/season). These water levies are used for the maintenance of
canals and organisational activities and are reviewed upwards almost every
year by the Water User Associations (WUAs).
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