Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana

Agricultural water management, particularly management of multi-purpose small reservoirs (SRs) in drier savanna areas of the northern Ghana, is being promoted as a key solution to improve agricultural production, enhance food security and livelihoods of smallholder farm households. However, little e...

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Main Authors: Acheampong, D., Balana, Bedru, Nimoh, F., Abaidoo, Robert C.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/97168
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author Acheampong, D.
Balana, Bedru
Nimoh, F.
Abaidoo, Robert C.
author_browse Abaidoo, Robert C.
Acheampong, D.
Balana, Bedru
Nimoh, F.
author_facet Acheampong, D.
Balana, Bedru
Nimoh, F.
Abaidoo, Robert C.
author_sort Acheampong, D.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Agricultural water management, particularly management of multi-purpose small reservoirs (SRs) in drier savanna areas of the northern Ghana, is being promoted as a key solution to improve agricultural production, enhance food security and livelihoods of smallholder farm households. However, little empirical evidence exist on how effective these small water infrastructures are in terms of delivering multiple benefits and their impact on the livelihood of smallholder farmers. This study assessed the effectiveness and impact of the small reservoirs on smallholder vegetable farmers in northern Ghana. A participatory rating method using a 5-point Likert-scale was used to assess the effectiveness of SRs in delivering multiple livelihood benefits and an endogenous switching regression model was applied to assess the SRs’ impact using a primary data collected from 328 randomly sampled vegetable farmers. Results from the Likert scale analysis show that most of the SRs are either dysfunctional or underutilized and not effective in delivering multiple benefits. Results from the endogenous switching regression model show that there is only about 3% increase in the income of vegetable farmers participating in irrigated vegetable production using SRs against the counterfactual situation but this change is insignificant statistically. The current low level effectiveness and impact of SRs could be enhanced by improving their management, for example, through the provision of incentive mechanisms such as subsidies to the private sector involvement in rehabilitation, management and irrigation service provision and strengthening the capacity of existing water users associations. Furthermore, small reserviors should be recognized not only as water sources for small scale irrigation but also as providers of multiple livelihood benefits to local communities and consequently should attract due attention in public resource allocation in their rehabilitation and management/institutional capacity building.
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spelling CGSpace971682025-03-18T19:50:23Z Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana Acheampong, D. Balana, Bedru Nimoh, F. Abaidoo, Robert C. agriculture water management reservoir operation smallholders vegetable growing food security living standards households farmers irrigated farming farm income community involvement Agricultural water management, particularly management of multi-purpose small reservoirs (SRs) in drier savanna areas of the northern Ghana, is being promoted as a key solution to improve agricultural production, enhance food security and livelihoods of smallholder farm households. However, little empirical evidence exist on how effective these small water infrastructures are in terms of delivering multiple benefits and their impact on the livelihood of smallholder farmers. This study assessed the effectiveness and impact of the small reservoirs on smallholder vegetable farmers in northern Ghana. A participatory rating method using a 5-point Likert-scale was used to assess the effectiveness of SRs in delivering multiple livelihood benefits and an endogenous switching regression model was applied to assess the SRs’ impact using a primary data collected from 328 randomly sampled vegetable farmers. Results from the Likert scale analysis show that most of the SRs are either dysfunctional or underutilized and not effective in delivering multiple benefits. Results from the endogenous switching regression model show that there is only about 3% increase in the income of vegetable farmers participating in irrigated vegetable production using SRs against the counterfactual situation but this change is insignificant statistically. The current low level effectiveness and impact of SRs could be enhanced by improving their management, for example, through the provision of incentive mechanisms such as subsidies to the private sector involvement in rehabilitation, management and irrigation service provision and strengthening the capacity of existing water users associations. Furthermore, small reserviors should be recognized not only as water sources for small scale irrigation but also as providers of multiple livelihood benefits to local communities and consequently should attract due attention in public resource allocation in their rehabilitation and management/institutional capacity building. 2018-10 2018-09-13T04:20:35Z 2018-09-13T04:20:35Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/97168 en Open Access Elsevier Acheampong, D.; Balana, Bedru B.; Nimoh, F.; Abaidoo, R. C. 2018. Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana. Agricultural Water Management, 8p. (Online first). doi: 10.1016/j.agwat.2018.07.009
spellingShingle agriculture
water management
reservoir operation
smallholders
vegetable growing
food security
living standards
households
farmers
irrigated farming
farm income
community involvement
Acheampong, D.
Balana, Bedru
Nimoh, F.
Abaidoo, Robert C.
Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana
title Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana
title_full Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana
title_fullStr Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana
title_short Asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions: the case of small reservoirs in northern Ghana
title_sort asssesing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural water management interventions the case of small reservoirs in northern ghana
topic agriculture
water management
reservoir operation
smallholders
vegetable growing
food security
living standards
households
farmers
irrigated farming
farm income
community involvement
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/97168
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