Small-scale irrigation (SSI) is an underrecognized yet significant sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing income and benefits such as climate resilience, health, and nutrition. It requires the implementation of supportive business models and focused targeting of women to boost participation, while addressing finance and information access limitations. To realize its full potential, active promotion of gender considerations, market support, and management institutions for water resources are essential.

1. Small-Scale Irrigation:
Present & Future
Claudia Ringler
IFPRI

2. Small-Scale Irrigation: A thriving but
overlooked sector with large potential
• In many SSA countries reaches more farmers than
public irrigation
• Significant income boost in the dry season
• Significant farmer demand and own investment
Source of images: IWMI/IFPRI/SUA.
Source: IWMI (2012).

3. To unlock this potential, need to..
Source: IWMI (2012).

4. …implement business models, such as
irrigation service providers
• One service provider is
linked to several irrigators
• Paid for the service per
hour

5. …target women to increase involvement
in AWM activities
 Irrigation favors male
dominated crops
 Lack of access to finance
 Lack of access to
information
 Ex: 20% of bucket and
water-can users are
women, but less than 5% of
motor pump owners are
female
Source: IWMI (2012).

6. Small-Scale Irrigation:
New analyses
• Expanded geographies
• New solutions
• Benefits of SSI beyond yields & revenues
(climate resilience, health, nutrition, and gender)

7. New geographies: Flood and dry-season
management in Nigeria
• Develop AWM solutions
to support flood
recession agriculture and
improve dry season
farming.
• Evidence on the extent of
flooding and flooding
patterns to guide decision-
making on flood response Irrigation suitability for small reservoirs: Anambra,
Benue, and Kogi States, Nigeria. Source: Xie et al.
forthcoming

8. New solutions: Solar Pumps and Wetting
Front Detector
Photo credit: Petra Schmitter/IWMI.

9. • Capacity Building on: a)
Financial Literacy of farmers
and financial institutions; b)
Access to loans for irrigation
technologies (revolving fund);
and c) Assessment of financial
institutions’ lending capacity
for irrigation technology
• Potential and limitations of
PPP for irrigation
New solutions: SSI and financing
Photo: Abby Waldorf.

10. • To what extent can SSI
address climate variability and
long-term climate change?
• Is SSI a climate-resilient
activity and to what extent is
SSI a precursor to any other
climate-smart agricultural
activity?
Benefits: SSI and climate resilience

11. Benefits: SSI and health

12. Benefits: SSI and nutrition (in red statistically significant changes)
Ethiopia Tanzania
Non-irrigators
n=185
Irrigators
n=284
Non-irrigators
n=224
Irrigators
n=227
Mean Mean Mean Mean
Household food insecurity
access scale, 0-27 [higher
means worse]
5.78 4.04 3.92 2.58
Female dietary diversity
score: number of categories
consumed
3.69 3.58 3.71 4.20
Household dietary diversity:
number of food categories
consumed
5.69 6.06 4.88 5.63
Source: IFPRI-ILSSI 2016.

13. Benefits: SSI and women’s empowerment
 Assessment of women’s
empowerment for irrigators
versus non-irrigators
 Women’s decision-making over
irrigated plots
 Women’s time use for
collecting domestic water
 Without additional interventions
access to SSI does not
necessarily enhance women’s
empowerment Image: IWMI.
Source: IFPRI-ILSSI 2016.

14. Conclusion
 SSI continues to grow in SSA
 SSI has the potential for large-scale benefits beyond
yields and income if climate resilience, health, nutrition,
and gender considerations are actively promoted, if there
is sufficient support for input and output markets, and if
information and credit constraints are addressed
 For SSI to remain successful, institutions for managing
shortages and depletion are also urgently needed.