Assessment Of Adoption And Impact Of Rainwater Harvesting Technologies On Rural Farm Household Income: The Case Of Rainwater Harvesting Ponds In Rwanda

Abstract

Rainwater harvesting is increasingly seen as a strategy for enhancing agricultural productivity and boosting farm income in many drought prone areas. While extensive efforts are going on in constructing and providing smallholder farmers with water harvesting technologies, such as rainwater harvesting ponds in many developing countries, there is conflicting evidence in the literature about the impact of such technologies on farm households. This study uses propensity score matching technique to assess the impact of rainwater harvesting ponds on farm household income in Rwanda. It then assesses the factors that influence adoption of rainwater harvesting ponds and the pathways through which the use adoption of such ponds influence farm income. This study finds that households with rainwater harvesting ponds have significantly higher income than their counterparts of comparable observable characteristics. The study also finds evidence that increase in farm income occurs via increased input use, and that household size, physical and financial asset endowments and participation in farmer organizations/group condition the decision to adopt rainwater harvesting ponds. The study concludes that the major factors driving the adoption of rainwater harvesting ponds are endowment with physical assets, farm income, membership to a farmer organization, and household size. It also concludes that use of rainwater harvesting ponds has a positive impact on household farm income. The study concludes that adoption of rainwater harvesting technologies has positive benefits to farm households. The implication of these findings is that adoption of rainwater harvesting ponds presents a pathway for reducing rural poverty. The findings further imply that policies that target increasing farm incomes should promote participation of farmers in farmer organizations. The finding that impact of rainwater harvesting ponds occurs through increased use of purchased inputs suggest the need to develop the input (fertilizer, manure, improved seed and pesticide) markets in order to reduce the transaction costs so as to make such inputs more easily accessible to farmers. In addition the finding that physical and financial asset endowments affect the adoption of rainwater harvesting ponds imply that there is need for policies and strategies that target the inclusion of poor farmers in adoption of rainwater harvesting ponds. Finally, in order to promote increased adoption of rainwater harvesting ponds and the inclusion of the poorer farmers, research and development interventions should be aimed at finding ways of reducing the cost of constructing the rainwater harvesting ponds and also of adopting the ponds.