Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : Economics and Impacts of Large Scale Irrigation in West Africa

Pays/Région : Burkina Faso, Ghana, Senegal

Durée  : October 1, 2012 - September 30, 2013

Descriptif
The overall objective of this project is to review the economics and impacts of large scale rice irrigation in West Africa in order to identify factors, variables, assumptions that explain variation in performance. The project in particular aims to i) review broad trends related to investments in, and contributions derived from, large scale irrigation in West Africa, ii) measure the degree to which predicted economic returns from irrigation development have in fact been realized across a range of irrigation schemes, and iii) determine impacts of large scale irrigation development on livelihoods. The project consists of two main activities : A first activity determines macro-level economic impacts of large-scale irrigation. This activity will be broken into two tracks of work. A first, general track of work consider the contribution of will consider historic investment trends in large-scale irrigation in West Africa along with the contributions of those investments to food security and food-self-sufficiency. A second, scheme-level track will compare the degree to which predicted returns on investment in large-scale irrigation in West Africa have been achieved according to several prominent criteria. Other scheme level factors will be accounted for in order to lay a basis for identifying why certain schemes have performed better than others. A second activity assesses impacts of large-scale irrigation on household livelihood security This activity will focus solely on impacts of irrigation schemes at a household level. Due to its broad nature, a livelihood security framework will be employed for capturing household-level impacts. Livelihood security is expected to include, among other components, incomes and poverty levels, nutrition, and access to health care. Parameters of each site, including average plot size, will be recorded to enable identification of factors that explain variation in outcomes.

Collaborateurs : International Institute for Environment and Development, International Union for Conservation of Nature,

Financement : The GWI for the Howard G. Buffett Foundation

Présentation : IWMI