Towards improving smallholder productivity: The case of irrigated agriculture in Bauchi State of Nigeria

Accessibility to, and the efficient use of, the limited water supplies in the drought-prone and semi-arid areas of tropical Nigeria is a sine qua non for increasing agricultural productivity. Yet available evidence indicates that the majority of the farming population has not benefited from the development of supplementary water sources for irrigation. This study was, therefore, conducted in order to ascertain the degree of accessibility of smallholders and their families to a supplementary water supply for irrigation in Bauchi Local Government Area. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the crop yields of farmers who applied irrigation versus those who did not apply any form of irrigation for the cultivation of their major staple food crops was conducted in order to determine the efficiency of use of the available water for increasing output.

In general, the degree of accessibility of small farmers to supplementary water sources for irrigation is remarkably low, with less than 10 per cent of the sampled population having access to, and, therefore, utilizing, supplemental water supply for cropping. However, even though the farmers who applied irrigation realized consistently higher yields than those who did not irrigate their crops, the yield differences were not statistically significant at the 5 per cent level. Reasons for the relatively low yield response have been elucidated.