THE IMPACT OF MODERN SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION ON RESOURCE USE AND FARM INCOMES IN WURNO AREA OF SOKOTO STATE

Abstract

ABSTRACT Emphasis on irrigation development in Sokoto state appears to be shifting towards small-scale irrigation. In the Wuroo area and some other parts of the state, rural farmers are being encouraged to adopt tube-well and pomp irrigation technologies, as modern substitutes to the traditional devices such as shadouf, calabash, and buckets. This study evaluates the impact of the new technologies by comparing resource use and farm incomes of farmers using pumps with those using the shadouf. Forty-eight farmers were randomly sampled in the Wurno area and data collected from them were analyzed using descriptive statistics and farm budgeting, /the introduction of the new technologies appears to have increased resource use and farm incomes in the study area. But it appears that opportunities exist for increasing profits if solutions are found to the problems of water shortage, inadequate supply of fertilizer and untimely evacuation of produce. It was concluded that these constraints and a number of sustainability issues have to be addressed for the realization of the full potentials of small-scale irrigation in such a fragile ecological environment.