Participatory Small-scale Irrigation Development Programme

Participatory Small-scale Irrigation Development Programme

The programme's goal is to improve the food security, nutrition and incomes of poor rural households by developing irrigation schemes for small-scale farmers in four states of Ethiopia. The programme targets poor rural households in high-density, drought-prone and food-insecure districts of the highlands. Many of the households cultivate plots of less than 1 hectare. Specific targets include households headed by women, unemployed youth and landless people.

The programme represents an important opportunity to reform small-scale irrigation development approaches and practices in Ethiopia. The schemes it developed provide a model to be scaled up and replicated throughout the country. To ensure sustainability and the full participation of local community members, farmers own and manage the irrigation systems through their own water users' associations. The programme also trains participants to take charge of the development process and encourages women to join the decision-making bodies of water users' associations.

Other objectives are to improve access roads in areas where there are irrigation systems, and to raise agricultural productivity by improving farming practices, supporting the establishment of home vegetable gardens and strengthening agricultural support services.

Source: IFAD