Abdulazeez Hudu Wudil, Asghar Ali, Mortala Boye and Salihu Musa

Keywords: Food security; Water use efficiency; Average treatment effect; Irrigation, Tube well water users, Canal water users

Abstract

The federal government of Nigeria has invested millions of naira to develop irrigation schemes across the country to stimulate employment, poverty reduction, and food security. However, more attempts need to be made to analyze whether these investments have achieved their objectives. Therefore, this study was conducted to: evaluate the impact of the Kano River Irrigation Project on resource use efficiency, food security, and farmers’ income. The samples of 216 and 167 canal water users and tube well users were examined, respectively. The samples were drawn using multi-stage sampling techniques, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and average treatment effect. It was found that the average household size, experience, and educational level of the canal water users were higher than their counterparts. The average annual income of the canal users was also significantly higher than that of tube well users. Meanwhile, the result further indicated that the project (canal water users) has no impact on water use efficiency, technical efficiency, and food security in the study area. For large-scale irrigation to impact food security and resource efficiency, efforts should be geared towards training, infrastructural development, farmers’ inclusion in operation, and managing irrigation projects in the country.