Agricultural Water Management (Sep 2024)

Irrigation technologies and management and their environmental consequences: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia

  • Rahel Deribe Bekele,
  • Dawit Mekonnen,
  • Claudia Ringler,
  • Marc Jeuland

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 302
p. 109003

Abstract

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The main objective of this study is to understand the interlinkages between different irrigation technologies and management systems and environmental outcomes. We use a unique and comprehensive household and plot-level dataset covering ten districts of Ethiopia complemented with remotely sensed data and qualitative information collected from the study sites. The econometric results show that compared to open-access plots equipped with pump irrigation, other irrigated configurations, and especially private groundwater-based systems, have higher vegetation cover and show less susceptibility to the most common environmental concerns mentioned in the survey regions: water logging, soil salinity, and erosion externalities.

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