The relationship between irrigation water availability and crop revenue is multifaceted. However, most of the previous studies focused only on the direct effect of irrigation water on crop revenue or considered that the indirect effect passes only through the farmers’ improved farm inputs usage. Nevertheless, unlike previous studies, this study argues that a one-sided argument that irrigation water directly causes high crop revenue or indirectly affects crop revenue only via the farmers’ improved farm inputs usage is incomplete, as irrigation water not only directly contributes to crop revenue but also indirectly conduces to crop revenue via both the type of crops produced and the farmers’ improved farm inputs usage. Considering the previous studies’ limitations, this study investigates pathways how small-scale irrigation water affects crop revenue and identifies challenges of small-scale irrigation farming in Fogera district, Ethiopia. Results endorsed that irrigation water has both direct and indirect effects on crop revenue. The indirect effect is 67 percent of the total effect and it is mediated by both the type of crops produced and farmers’ improved farm inputs usage. The result also indicated that irrigation user farmers have a higher income, more livestock assets and resources and better food, housing, and cloths than the non-users. Moreover, challenges related to agricultural output and input market were identified as the most severe problem followed by crop disease. The findings of our study suggest that to utilize the benefits of irrigation water properly, it is crucial to encourage farmers to use more improved farm inputs and to shift from staple to cash crop production. Moreover, farmers are frequently exposed to cheating by illegal brokers in the output market, therefore it is also important to increase farmers’ accessibility to output and input markets, the quality of improved farm inputs, and the bargaining power of farmers with market information.

中文翻译：

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灌溉水如何影响埃塞俄比亚西北部小农作物收入的途径：混合方法

灌溉用水与作物收入之间的关系是多方面的。然而，以往的研究大多只关注灌溉水对作物收入的直接影响，或者认为间接影响只通过农民改善农业投入使用。然而，与以往的研究不同，本研究认为灌溉水直接导致高作物收入或仅通过农民改善农业投入使用间接影响作物收入的片面论据是不完整的，因为灌溉水不仅直接有助于作物收入但也通过生产的作物类型和农民改进的农业投入使用间接促进作物收入。考虑到以往研究的局限性，这项研究调查了小规模灌溉水如何影响作物收入的途径，并确定了埃塞俄比亚福格拉地区小规模灌溉农业面临的挑战。结果证实灌溉水对作物收入有直接和间接影响。间接影响占总影响的 67%，它是由生产的作物类型和农民改善的农业投入使用情况所介导的。结果还表明，使用灌溉的农民比不使用灌溉的农民有更高的收入、更多的牲畜资产和资源以及更好的食物、住房和衣服。此外，与农业产出和投入市场相关的挑战被确定为最严重的问题，其次是作物病害。我们的研究结果表明，要正确利用灌溉水的好处，鼓励农民使用更多改良的农业投入物并从主食转向经济作物生产至关重要。此外，农民在农产品市场上经常受到非法中间商的欺骗，因此增加农民对产出和投入市场的可及性、改良的农业投入品的质量以及农民掌握市场信息的议价能力也很重要。