A re-examination of the impact of irrigation on rice production in Benin: An application of the endogenous switching model

Abstract

Irrigation offers important opportunities for enhancing crop yield and production in developing countries. This paper provides a re-examination of the impact of irrigation on rice production in Benin. It employed an endogenous switching model to account for bias due to observable and unobservable factors. The results indicated that the age of the farmer, gender, education, extension services, credit, access to media, ownership of mobile phone, off-farm income, and distance from home to irrigation scheme are factors affecting the probability of the adoption of irrigation. The results also revealed that adoption of irrigation is positively associated with rice productivity improvement. Farm variables such as soil fertility, labor, and fertilizer and herbicide application have a positive effect on rice productivity. Other variables increasing the rice yield were: education, credit, off-farm income, and access to media. These findings suggest that investments in irrigation should be accompanied by the provision of institutional support measures and complementary farm inputs to enhance the impact of irrigation on rice production.