Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
August 2024

Irrigation Technologies and Management and Their Environmental Consequences: Empirical Evidence from Ethiopia

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Irrigation Technologies and Management and Their Environmental Consequences: Empirical Evidence from Ethiopia cover

This study develops 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—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.

The authors find:

  • Both positive and negative impacts of using irrigation on the natural environment are assessed.
  • Irrigation water management systems and technologies are important determinants of environmental improvement and degradation.
  • Vegetation cover change is found in plots and adjacent areas that are in privately managed pump systems from groundwater. 
  • There is synergy between climate change and variability and land degradation.