Farmer Participation And Sustainability Of Public Irrigation Schemes In Ghana: The Case Of Kpong Irrigation Scheme

In Ghana empirical reports indicate that farmer participation in irrigation projects is still very low, putting sustainability of such irrigation projects at risk. The study sought to determine the extent to which socio-economic and institutional factors influence the level of farmers’ participation and sustainability of the Kpong Irrigation Scheme. Using survey research design, quantitative data were collected from 200 respondents who were selected through systematic random sampling.

Anaglo, J. N.; Nasiru, A.; Manteaw, S. A.; Amoah, I. A.; Boateng, S. D.

2014

English

In Ghana empirical reports indicate that farmer participation in irrigation projects is still very low, putting sustainability of such irrigation projects at risk. The study sought to determine the extent to which socio-economic and institutional factors influence the level of farmers’ participation and sustainability of the Kpong Irrigation Scheme. Using survey research design, quantitative data were collected from 200 respondents who were selected through systematic random sampling. The study found that socio-economic factors such as educational status and group size had significant influence on farmer participation while institutional factors such as water supply, benefits derived from the scheme and farmer’s awareness of rules, also had significant influence on participation. It was observed that water supply and group size significantly influenced economic sustainability while trust in the leadership was found to have an influence on social sustainability of the scheme. It is recommended that farmer groups be made smaller and that the main canal be rehabilitated to ensure that all the farmers get adequate supply of water.