Impact Assessment of Small-Scale Irrigation Investment on Poverty Reduction: A Case Study of the Municipality of Dabaga in Niger

Abstract

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, where more than 80% of the population live in rural areas and depend on agriculture. Agricultural production in Niger depends on rainfall which is irregularly distributed in place and time; thus, causing food deficit or food insecurity. To deal with these constraints and find a remedy to the precariousness of food insecurity, the focus is on irrigated agriculture where the purpose of the study is entitled "contribution of small-scale irrigation to reduce poverty". The main objective of this study was to analyse the economic and social impact of small-scale irrigation investment in the reduction of poverty. The municipality of Dabaga in Niger was selected as a case study. The specific objectives were to characterize the cropping systems practised by the farmers; calculate the gross margin of agricultural production (for the main crops grown); draw up the cereal balance sheet and the farm producers' operating account. Thus, surveys were conducted in the study area where 174 farmers were randomly selected. After that, the farmers were classified into two categories according to the main cultivated culture. Descriptive statistics and econometric correlation tests (Pearson method) were used for data analysis. It emerges from this study that this irrigated agriculture, which is of semi-intensive type, is dominated by the practice of polyculture. It involves the entire surveyed population, which had a negative cereal balance sheet but provides, for 82.18% of the farmers, a satisfactory net monetary income, above the country's monetary poverty line.