EFFICIENCY OF RESOURCE USE UNDER SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF SHADOOF AND PUMP IN RINGIM LGA, KANO, NIGERIA
Abstract
The current drought in Northern Nigeria, the declining contribution of agriculture to the GDP, increasing food imports and the need for agriculture to play a greater role in the socio-economic development of the country have intensified interest in irrigation development in Nigeria. Although the trend of irrigation development has been mainly directed towards large scale irrigation, this research was designed to study the small scale lift irrigation methods of applying water (shadoof and pump). It was hypothesized that promotion and improvement of these systems might contribute to more efficient agricultural production. This study was, therefore, designed to estimate the economic returns to small scale shadoof and pump irrigation systems and to indicate implications of these returns for research, extension and government policy. The analytical framework chosen for this analysis was a linear programming model. A major problem of using the LP model was that the farmers intercropped, making it difficult to assign inputs used to a specific crop. To cope with this problem, regression analysis was used in the specification of small scale irrigation linear programming activities. The Production Possibility-Convex Approximation Model (PP-CAM) used in this study is a new and potentially useful technique for analyzing resource use under intercropping. The data necessary to estimate the coefficients or parameters of the model were obtained from 114 irrigation farmers (104 shadoof and 10 pump) in Ringim LGA, Kano, Nigeria during the 1978/79 irrigation season. The results of the study indicated that the returns to irrigation farming with the shadoof and pump irrigation technology is quite high. Thus the benefits from promoting these small scale lift devices are worthy of consideration by policymakers interested in increasing agricultural output. A major barrier identified as limiting the expansion of irrigated land area was unavailability of water. Although there is sufficient ground water, the amount currently accessible for irrigation with pumps and shadoofs is limited. Investment in wells and ponds could increase availability. Lack of timely repair service hinders adoption of pump irrigation at present.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Agricultural economics
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