treadle pump irrigation in malawi: adoption, gender ...

IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE

Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012) Published online 23 April 2012 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/ird.1665

TREADLE PUMP IRRIGATION IN MALAWI: ADOPTION, GENDER AND BENEFITS† J. KAMWAMBA-MTETHIWA1, R. NAMARA2, C. DE FRAITURE3*, J. MANGISONI4 AND E. OWUSU2 2

1 Natural Resources College, Lilongwe, Malawi International Water Management Institute, Accra, Ghana 3 UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands 4 Bunda College of Agriculture, Lilongwe, Malawi

ABSTRACT As part of their irrigation strategy, the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Malawi are actively promoting the use of treadle pumps in smallholder irrigation. The positive impact of treadle pumps on food security and poverty reduction in Malawi and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa is well documented. However, few studies have analysed the adoption dynamics and dissemination approaches of treadle pumps. This study uses a logit model to analyse the factors influencing treadle pump adoption among a stratified random sample of 100 adopters and 100 non-adopters in two districts in Malawi. The results indicate that relatively well-off farmers have a significantly higher probability of adopting the treadle pumps than poor farmers. This raises questions about dissemination approaches and targeting, because treadle pumps are typically geared towards poor smallholders. The study further indicates differences between male and female adopters. Female adopters are more likely to pay for subsidized treadle pumps in cash. Male adopters mostly acquire their pumps through a loan. Women tend to spend the additional income on food for the household while men tend to spend it mostly on non-food items. It is therefore likely that treadle pump adoption by women will positively impact on household food security, though it also adds to women’s workload. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. key words: treadle pump irrigation; Malawi; gender; adoption; dissemination approaches Received 11 November 2010; Revised 29 February 2012; Accepted 5 March 2012

RÉSUMÉ Dans le cadre de leur stratégie d’irrigation, le gouvernement et les organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) font la promotion active des pompes à pédales dans la petite irrigation au Malawi. L’impact positif de pompes à pédale sur la sécurité alimentaire et la réduction de la pauvreté au Malawi et ailleurs en Afrique sub-saharienne est bien documenté. Cependant, peu d’études ont analysé la dynamique d’adoption et des approches de vulgarisation des pompes à pédale. Cette étude utilise le modèle logit pour analyser les facteurs influençant l’adoption pompe à pédale auprès d’un échantillon aléatoire stratifié de 100 adoptants et de 100 non-adoptants dans deux districts du Malawi. Les résultats indiquent que les agriculteurs relativement aisés agriculteurs ont une probabilité significativement plus élevée d’adopter des pompes à pédale que les agriculteurs pauvres. Cela soulève des questions sur les approches de diffusion et le ciblage, car les pompes à pédales sont typiquement destinées aux petits exploitants pauvres. L’étude indique en outre les différences entre les adoptants masculins et féminins. Les femmes accèdent plutôt à des pompes à pédales subventionnées et payées en espèces. Les adoptants mâles acquièrent la plupart du temps acquis leurs pompes par l’emprunt. Les femmes ont tendance à dépenser le revenu supplémentaire en nourriture pour le ménage tandis que les hommes ont tendance à le dépenser la plupart du temps sur des articles non alimentaires. Il est donc probable que l’adoption pompe à pédale par les femmes auront un impact positif de la sécurité alimentaire des ménages. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. mots clés: irrigation par pompe à pédale; Malawi; différence de comportement hommes–femmes; dynamique d’adoption; méthodes de diffusion

* Correspondence to: Prof. Charlotte de Fraiture, Core Land and Water Development, Department of Water Science and Engineering, UNESCO-IHE, P.O. Box 3015, 2601 DA, Delft, the Netherlands, Tel.: +31 15 2151734, E-mail: [email protected] † Irrigation pompe à pédale au Malawi: adoption, effets de genre et bénéfices.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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INTRODUCTION Agricultural production in Malawi takes place in two distinct sub-sectors: commercial estates and smallholders. The estate sub-sector produces commercial cash crops such as tea, tobacco and coffee, while the smallholder sub-sector is subsistence oriented. The majority of the rural population are smallholders with a customary land tenure on small landholdings of less than 1 ha. Crop yields are low because of low input levels, declining soil fertility, and excessive soil erosion. Dimba cultivation, i.e. small garden plots in swampland/wetlands known as dambos, is widely practised in rural areas. Crops grown in dambos include maize, green vegetables, tomatoes and onions. The government developed the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) to combat food shortages in low rainfall years and accelerate economic growth. The MGDS highlighted irrigation as one of the key drivers of economic development through improved food security at household and national level (Government of Malawi, 2006). The irrigation potential for Malawi is estimated at 400 000 ha but currently only 73 460 ha are developed, with 48 360 ha (66%) under estates and 25 100 ha (34%) under smallholder farmers producing rice and horticultural crops (Wiyo and Mtethiwa, 2008). The smallholder irrigation sector is characterized by small landholdings (on average 0.2 ha), using manual water-lifting devices and usually depending on family labour. Since 2004 smallholder-irrigated production has grown at the low rate of 1% per annum. To boost production in smallholder agriculture the Malawi government and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are actively promoting the use of treadle pump technology in dambos where water is relatively easily accessible. Treadle pumps offer good prospects to increase agricultural production and provide additional income to many resource-poor farmers. Numerous studies have confirmed the positive impacts of treadle pumps on smallholders’ income and food security in South Asia (Jaim and Sarker, 1994; Shah et al., 2000; Srinivas and Jalajakshi, 2004) and sub-Saharan Africa (Lwesya and Vedeld, 2008; Mangisoni, 2008; Merrey et al., 2008; Adeoti et al., 2009). This paper complements these studies in understanding the adoption dynamics, dissemination approaches and the benefits of treadle pump irrigation technology based on the Malawi treadle pump promotion experience. The paper presents the results of a study conducted in selected villages of Blantyre and Mnchinji districts of Malawi. The study identifies approaches in treadle pump dissemination, assesses the benefits of treadle pump technology for men and women and analyses the determinants of treadle pump technology adoption. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

BACKGROUND Dissemination of treadle pumps The treadle pump is a human-powered water-lifting device specifically designed for small-scale irrigation. It does not require electricity or fuel, it can be dismantled and assembled by farmers themselves and has low capital and maintenance costs per unit of land irrigated. It is cheap, easy to operate and can be transported for use on fragmented landholdings (Kay and Brabben, 2000). Merrey et al. (2008) note that treadle pumps are particularly suitable for smallholders compared to other non-motorized devices, because their peak capacity to pump 3–6 m3 h‾¹ of water fits the irrigation requirements of most African farmers and the pumps can be manufactured locally using local skills and materials. Major disadvantages are the high labour requirement and low suction and delivery head, which make treadle pumps unsuitable for use on large areas and/ or with deep wells. Typically plots irrigated by treadle pumps are small and fenced, ranging in size from less than 0.1 to 0.4 ha. They have been informally and spontaneously developed mostly adjacent to water sources such as shallow wells, boreholes, small dams, and rivers. However, in recent years, population increases and recurrent drought have put pressure on the utilization of such water sources (Mangisoni, 2006; Lwesya and Vedeld, 2008). Treadle pumps are mostly promoted by NGOs and government programmes. Most NGOs follow a market-based approach where pumps are disseminated through private dealers located in small towns or villages. Pumps are sold to farmers at full cost price plus a mark-up for the dealer and manufacturers. The approach proved a success in Bangladesh and elsewhere in South Asia where, according to some estimates, over a million pumps have been sold (Polak, undated). The introduction of treadle pump technology in Africa, starting in the early 1990s, proved more difficult and slower than in Bangladesh and other countries in South Asia. Some suggested that the conditions in Africa are different from those in Bangladesh (Kay and Brabben, 2000). For example, groundwater is deeper and more fragmented and the irrigated land was hilly, so the water needs to be pushed much further from its source to the point of use. Development of pressure pumps1 helped to overcome this constraint, resulting in significant increase in sales in several African countries. The cost of buying, running and maintaining engine-powered pumps for irrigation was prohibitive for most smallholder farmers, and the majority relied on traditional human-powered water-lifting devices, mostly hand devices, such as the shadoof and scoops, and physical carrying of buckets to and from the water source to the crop field. These are cumbersome and required high 1

(such as the Jenkins, Bieleman, Harare pump, Warwick, Diambar, KB, SuperMoneymaker, to name just a few). Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012)

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TREADLE PUMP IRRIGATION IN MALAWI

labour inputs to irrigate very small plots of land (Kay and Brabben, 2000). The treadle pump, because it uses body weight and leg muscles instead of arm muscles, is more human-energy efficient and typically irrigates 0.3 ha as compared to 0.1 ha with other manual pumps. In Zambia the FAO promoted treadle pump technology through various special programmes. In Zimbabwe both laboratory and field trials of four types of manually operated lifting devices selected the rope washer and treadle pumps for further development and dissemination. The main experience was the importance of the involvement of farmers in the early stages of technical innovations instead of regarding them as passive adopters of technology. Practical field courses were found to be very effective and also that access to the technology was improved through credit availability to farmers (Kamwamba, 2004). The Zimbabwe studies were the basis for the introduction and testing of treadle pumps in Malawi (Kay and Brabben, 2000).

Treadle pump irrigation in Malawi Frequent drought spells and the existence of many large and small water bodies make irrigation an attractive option for improving agricultural productivity and food security in Malawi. A study of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on manual water-lifting devices in Malawi identified the treadle pump as the most suitable because of its greater effective water-lifting capacity and adaptation to both surface and groundwater resources (Wiyo, 2002). With traditional watering cans and buckets farmers can only grow one crop per year whereas with a treadle pump they grow at least two crops per year. Kamwamba (2004) showed that treadle pumps proved an effective means to increase farmers’ irrigated area in wetlands by at least a factor of two and that farmers maintained their enthusiasm for this technology after months of use. Therefore, the government proposed a technology-testing period during which technology was to be manufactured in large numbers and sold to farmers. This was done through Agricultural Product Engineering Development (APED) project. To spearhead the promotion of pilot treadle pumps, the Department of Irrigation (DOI) developed a manual in July 1999. Irrigation officers were trained in treadle pump technology and the DOI produced a draft layout of the treadle pump plots. The Agricultural Marketing and Development Cooperation (ADMARC) and the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association (NASFAM) were contracted to undertake the national distribution and marketing of the treadle pumps. The pumps were issued to ADMARC and NASFAM under 2-year loans with the sale prices set by the DOI. IFAD funding allowed the pumps to be priced at a subsidized level including a small administration charge (Wiyo, 2002). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In 2001 the DOI commissioned an evaluation on the impact of treadle pump technology to make recommendations for the implementation of a proposed large-scale treadle pump programme. The evaluation highlighted some of the weak points in the earlier dissemination approaches in Malawi. Among others, the team recommended the removal of the subsidy on the price of treadle pumps and instead encouraged the purchase of treadle pumps through loans (Wiyo, 2002). Subsidies, or sometimes giving them away for free, allegedly reduced the sustainability of treadle pump technology. Paying the full price, facilitated by loans, was regarded as enhancing sustainability. The evaluation team estimated that farmers would be able to pay back the full price of the pump (through a loan) after 2 years of use. The team also made recommendations on the supply chain (though the promotion of local manufacturers), the distribution strategies (through the private sector) and training needs among the extension agents and treadle pump users. Based on the recommendations of this evaluation report, the government of Malawi and several private organizations scaled up the distribution of treadle pumps through loans. By 2005 over 60 000 treadle pumps had been purchased for distribution to smallholder farmers by the Department of Irrigation and/or the private sector (Kamwamba, 2004).

Impact of treadle pump irrigation The opportunities, constraints and impacts of manual waterlifting irrigation technologies in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are well documented. In India and Bangladesh farmers were able to increase their annual cash incomes by US $200–300 per pump; for some farmers this meant doubling their income. Shah et al. (2000) surveyed over 2000 farmers in South Asia and found an average increase in annual income of US$100, with some farmers getting an increase of over US$500. Many of them doubled their income. For Ghana Adeoti et al. (2009) report a net increase in annual income of US$393 ha‾¹; In Mali Bishop (2002) found an increase of US$277, a more than doubling in annual cash income, and International Development Enterprises (IDE) (2005) reports an increase of US$125 in Myanmar. In Malawi adopters obtained four times more yield per unit of land irrigated as compared to non-adopters (Mangisoni, 2006; Lwesya and Vedeld, 2008). In Zambia and Zimbabwe food security was significantly better among adopters than among non-adopters (Merrey et al., 2008). While the impact of treadle pumps on the well-being of individual households is widely documented, less has been written on adoption patterns and dynamics and the impact of dissemination approaches on sustainability. Shah et al. (2000) show that treadle pumps self-select the poor: the first adopters tend to be the slightly better-off farmers who can bear the risk of trying a new technology, but they Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012)

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move on to more advanced technologies such as motorized pumps. Poor farmers convinced by seeing the usefulness of treadle pumps on their neighbours’ fields adopted soon after and stuck with the technology (at least, for several years). Larger farmers were not interested in the technology. In contrast, examples from Ghana and Malawi show that adopters tend to be the better-off farmers (Mangisoni, 2006; Lwesya and Vedeld, 2008; Adeoti et al., 2009), while poor farmers are not reached (this may be related to the relatively high purchase price of the treadle pump in sub-Saharan Africa). The vast majority of treadle pump owners are men, even though women supply labour for their operation. A number of studies highlighted gender disparities as one of the factors that have led to the low adoption of water-lifting irrigation technologies. Chancellor and O’Neill (2000) suggest that if water-lifting technologies like treadle pumps are to enable African women to improve their livelihoods then research must address the constraints that have prevented women from purchasing and using the pumps as much as men. The study further suggested that there is considerable potential for improving the rate of adoption among women if they are closely involved in the design process and due attention is given to ergonomics and user-friendliness in the design. IDE’s experience in India shows that reaching women and convincing them to adopt treadle pumps requires a special effort in training and targeting (Prabhu, 1999). Participation of women in the operation of the treadle pump does not necessarily lead to improvements in women’s well-being nor in families’ food security status. This depends on intra-household decision making on how the additional income is spent (Kamwamba, 2004). Therefore, understanding adoption dynamics and the linkages between dissemination approach (targeting), adoption by women and food security benefits will help enhance the effectiveness of treadle pump promotion programmes.

METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLING DESIGN Study locations This paper uses data from a survey conducted in the Mchinji and Blantyre districts of Malawi in 2005 among treadle pumps adopters and non-adopters (as reported in Mangisoni, 2006). The survey was conducted in the extension planning areas (EPAs) with the highest concentration of treadle pump farmers in each of the two districts. Table I summarizes the profile of the two study districts and Figure 1 shows the area where the study was conducted.

Sampling design For this study a household is defined as a group of individuals living under the same roof. By this definition a household comprised the household head, his/her spouse, children, Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

nephews, nieces and other dependants living within the same house. All households interviewed had vegetable gardens, with some of them having more than one. A stratified random sampling procedure was used in this study in order to obtain unbiased and consistent information. The two districts of Blantyre in the southern region and Mchinji in the central region were first sampled. Within these districts the EPAs with the largest number of treadle pump farmers were selected. The population of each of the selected EPAs in each district was stratified according to treadle pump and non-treadle pump farmers based on the sampling frames provided by the respective EPAs. A random sample of 50 households was drawn from the stratum of treadle pump users in each district, giving a total of 100 treadle pump farmers interviewed for the study. Similarly, a sample of 50 non-treadle pump farmers was drawn from each district, giving a total of 100 non-treadle pump farmers. The sample of treadle pump farmers was chosen from a total of 1272 and 2888 adopters, while that of non-treadle pump farmers was similarly chosen from 91 569 and 114 093 non-adopters from Blantyre and Mchinji districts, respectively. The proportion of treadle pump farmers was purposely over-represented to allow for meaningful statistical analysis (Mangisoni, 2006).

Data collection Both primary and secondary data sources were used in this study. The secondary information relates to treadle pump technology, such as first year of adoption, number of treadle pumps distributed annually differentiated by the type of suppliers, list of institutions/organizations engaged in treadle pump marketing and dissemination, number of beneficiaries/adopters and types of crops grown under treadle pump technology. Primary data were collected through direct measurements, observations and interviews with smallholders and advisory officers in the Mchinji and Blantyre districts. Further, a survey was conducted among the sample of 100 adopters and 100 non-adopters. The questionnaire used in the farmer survey and conducted with the help of enumerators, was pre-tested in the field for a period of 1 month (Mangisoni, 2006). The selected smallholder treadle pump and non-treadle pump farmers were asked questions on crops grown under treadle pump irrigation and rainfed conditions; number of harvests under treadle pump technology, output levels, family annual food availability, purchases and payments, sales and receipts, payments of hired labour in cash or kind, year of adoption of treadle pump technology, land tenure, area of land allocated to treadle pump irrigation, farmland allocated to various upland/rainfed crops, agricultural extension, access to services, marketing and constraints on production. Furthermore, background data on family size, age distribution, gender, level of formal education, and marital Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012)

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Table I. Profile of the study areas Study area Climate

Unit

Districts Mchinji 1000–1230 19–21 1200–1829 336 600 Ferallitic and ferrugineous

Topography (main features)

Rainfall Mean temperature Altitude Total district area Soils

mm C m ha Type

Household characteristics

Slope Rivers Farm families Average land area/family Rainfed crops

Type Main rivers Farm families ha Main crops

Agriculture activity

Cash crops Livestock Irrigation

Main methods Irrigated crops

Main crops

status of the respondents were sought from the households (Mangisoni, 2006). During interviews, yields of selected major crops (maize, tobacco, groundnuts and sweet potatoes) were recorded in local units. Conversion factors were used to convert the yields into kilograms. Labour availability for both treadle pump and non-treadle pump farmers was estimated by determining gender, age category and availability of each household member. Conversion rates by age category were employed to estimate labour availability to the households in man-equivalents. A figure for mean labour availability per household was calculated for each category and compared using Student’s t-test (see Mangisoni, 2006 for details). Annual food requirement (in maize equivalents) was obtained from work done by other researchers. Annual food requirement is based on age as follows: an adult person from the ages of 10 to 60 requires 0.8 kg day ‾¹ of maize. Those below 10 and above 60 are assumed to be 0.5 adult equivalents for consumption requirements because they are agriculturally inactive. On average this translates into 270 kg yr‾¹ of maize per adult. This information was used for the well-being analysis of the two categories of farmers in the two districts. The well-being measurements were estimated using two measures of poverty indices and transition Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Blantyre 910 17–19 800 201 696 Clay, clay loam and gravel/red soils Mountain ranges Plains Hills, mountains and forest Bua, Ludzi and Lusi Main rivers 116 981 92 841 2.2 1.0 Maize, tobacco, Maize, tobacco, groundnuts, soybeans, tomatoes, pigeon peas, cassava, potatoes, sorghum, beans, peas, pigeon peas vegetables, potatoes, okra and rice Maize, tobacco and groundnuts Tobacco, cotton, beans, groundnuts and sugarcane Chickens, guinea fowl, ducks, goats, sheep, cattle and pigs Treadle pumps Bucket Treadle pumps and irrigation Residual moisture watering cans Maize, beans and vegetables Maize, cabbage, rape, carrots, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, mustard and local vegetables

matrices, calculated on the basis of a constructed definition of poor and non-poor people in each category of farmers and information provided by the farmers themselves. Based on the actual per capita consumption for each household, with appropriate adjustments for different household sizes and different requirements for individuals within households, the poverty line was set at 270 kg of maize per capita. Computed actual per capita consumption of each household was compared to the poverty line. Households with per capita consumption above 270 kg of maize were considered non-poor, while those below the per capita consumption line were taken to be poor (see Mangisoni, 2006 for further details).

Data analysis––logit adoption model To facilitate the choice of an appropriate econometric model for analysing the determinants of treadle pump adoption and their quantitative significance, we define treadle pump adopters as those farmers who use or own any brand of treadle pump technology promoted by NGOs and the government of Malawi at the time of the study. In this case, the treadle pump adoption variable is a discrete dichotomous variable (a farmer is either a treadle pump adopter or a non-adopter). Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012)

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Figure 1. Map of Malawi showing districts under study. This figure is available in colour online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ird

The non-adopters, or non-treadle pump farmers, are those who have not used or did not own a treadle pump during the year of the survey. In instances where the adoption variable is binary, logit and probit models are most commonly used to analyse technology adoption processes (Aldrich and Nelson, 1984; Feder et al., 1985). Here the logit model is used to explain the treadle pump adoption determinants. The specification of the logit model is as follows: Pi ¼ probabilityðFi ¼ 1Þ ¼

expðzÞ 1 þ expðzÞ


where Pi denotes the probability that the ith farmer has adopted treadle pump technology (Fi = 1) and Z ¼ b0 þ

m X

bi Xi

i

where b0 is the intercept, bi is a slope in the model, and Xi are independent variables. In the logit model, like any nonlinear regression model, the parameters are not necessarily the marginal effects (Greene, 2000; Kennedy, 2001). They rather represent changes in the natural log of odds ratio for a unit change in the explanatory variables. Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012)

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Description of the hypothesized treadle pump adoption variables As a prelude to the analyses of the logit model results, we first discuss the explanatory variables included in the model. The most common variables used in modelling technology adoption processes are human-capital variables (e.g. level of education and age), attributes of the technologies, nature of the farming system as influenced by the interplay of various biophysical and socio-economic variables, tenure system, resource endowment, risk and uncertainty, social capital, and social psychological factors (Leagans, 1979; Feder et al., 1985; Buttel et al., 1990; Rogers, 1995). In the present case, the variables hypothesized to influence treadle pump adoption decisions are summarized in Table II. The variables were selected based on literature reviews of the determinants of irrigation technology adoption (Shrestha and Gopalakrishnan, 1993; Caswell, 1999; Sakks, 2001), the researchers’ own perceptions of the socio-economic setting of the study locations and the technical attributes of the treadle pump technology.

•

•

•

These variables can be classified into: • socio-economic characteristics of the household head: This group of variables includes the age and gender of the household. It is hypothesized that male-headed households would have a better chance of adopting

•

treadle pump technology, while the relationship between treadle pump adoption and age is hypothesized to be nonlinear. Younger farmers are expected to have more chance of adopting treadle pumps than older ones because of the physical demand of treadle pump operation; human capital variables: The human capital is indicated by the level of education of the household head. It is hypothesized that treadle pump adoption rates increase with level of education. The effect of this group of variables may also be captured by the age of the household head. Age may be a surrogate for experience (or skill), wealth and conservatism. The effect of the age variable on treadle pump adoption depends on which of these age dimensions dominates; landownership or size: This variable is indicated by the area and number of fields farmers own. It is hypothesized that as the number of plots owned by a household increases, the probability of treadle pump adoption increases; asset ownership: This group of variables is represented by oxen-cart ownership, quality of housing, and livestock ownership. It is expected that farmers owning these assets have more chance of adopting treadle pump technology; income from sources other than agriculture: The level of income from non-farm and off-farm employment and other sources such as remittances is also hypothesized to increase the probability of adopting treadle

Table II. Description of variables in the logit regression model Adopters Variables

Unit

Age of the household head Square of household head’s age Gender of the household head (1 = male and 0 = female) Education (categorical variable) None (reference category) Standard 1–5 Standard 6–8 Form 1–2 Form 3–4 High school and above Number of agricultural plots owned (categorical variable) 1-2 (reference category) 2-3 5-6 >6 Ownership of assets Livestock ownership Housing quality Ox-cart ownership Income from other sources

Years

Mean

Non-adopters SD

SD

39.4 1 772 52.0

15.0 1772

%

38.0 1562 48.0

% % % % % %

8.6 30.9 34.6 16.0 8.6 1.2

19.6 30.9 29.9 8.2 10.3 1.0

% % % %

43.3 48.5 6.2 2.1

60.4 33.0 5.5 1.1

%% % % Kwacha

45.0* 33.0* 28.0* 14 336*

10.9 930

Mean

10 537

17.0 15.0 5.0 10 486

8 447

Notes: SD = standard deviation; *1% significant. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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between the two groups with regard to area under irrigation. But there is a significant difference in terms of the income per unit of rainfed and irrigated area. Adopters make more money per unit irrigated area probably because they are relatively well off having access to better inputs and water supply. The results further indicate that adopters get substantially more income from other sources outside agriculture than non-adopters, further confirming their relatively higher socio-economic status.

pumps through the availability of additional cash for procuring other complementary inputs such as vegetable seeds, herbicides, etc.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Socio-economic profiles of treadle pump adopters and non-adopters A summary of socio-economic characteristics of adopters (N = 100) and non-adopters (N = 100) of treadle pumps is given in Table III. The results indicate that adopters are better off than non-adopters on nearly all counts (human capital, land, assets and income from other sources). Given the short time between adoption and interviews (mostly less than 2 years) it is likely that adopters already were better off from the outset. It is unlikely that in the few years since adoption adopters already had amassed sufficient additional income from using treadle pumps to buy better housing, clothes, land, motorbikes and acquire income from other sources.

Ownership of assets Treadle pump adopters own significantly more and higherquality assets like good housing, bicycles, ox-carts, working tools and good clothing and hire more labour (employment generation) than non-adopters (Figure 2). Around 33% of adopters own good housing against only 15% among non-adopters; 71% of adopters own a bicycle against only 29% among non-adopters; 90% of adopters have good clothing against only 40% among non-adopters. Treadle pump adopters own more livestock (45%) than non-adopters (27%), and 28% of adopters own oxcarts whilst for non-adopters it is only 5%. However, there are no significant differences between adopters and nonadopters with regard to owning radios.

Land sizes and income On average adopters tend to have significantly more area under rainfed production than non-adopters. On the other hand there are no statistically significant differences

Table III. Socio-economic characteristics of treadle adopters and non-adopters Adopters

Non-adopters

Variable

N

Mean

N

Mean

Area under irrigation (ha)

79

0.6

98

0.7

Area under rainfed (ha)

78

3.6

98

3.0

Net farm income under rainfed (MK)

78

31 734

98

12 463.2

Net farm income under irrigation (MK)

79

42 350

98

8 718.9

Household expenditure (MK)

95

8 038

94

4 171.1

Household consumption expenditure (MK)

99

23 685

96

14 980.9

Income from others sources (MK)

99

14 335

96

10 485.8

Value of livestock owned (MK)

46

45 435

17

26 286.8

Age of farmer (years)

100

39

100

38

t-test (SE) 0.367 (0.839) 1.634 (0.399)* 2.490 (7738.9){ 4.313 (7798.12){ 4.120 (938.7){ 3.627 (2399.8){ 2.819 (1365.56)† 2.024 (9248.61) 0.721 (1.35){

Notes: *10% significant; † 5% significant; { 1% significant. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Figure 2. Ownership of assets. This figure is available in colour online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ird

Level of education There is a weak link between education levels and adoption though it is not statistically significant (chi square = 6.343). On average, adopters are more educated than non-adopters (Figure 3), suggesting that educated people are slightly more likely to adopt treadle pumps. There is a small but significant difference between the age of adopters and non-adopters, with adopters at least one year younger than non-adopters.

Descriptive socio-economic differences between female and male treadle pump adopters Ownership of assets of male and female treadle pump adopters. On average men adopters tend to own more capital assets than female adopters (Figure 4). Forinstance, 40% of male adopters own good housing against 12 % among female adopters; 70% male adopters own livestock against 11% of female adopters; 90% of male adopters have working tools against 70 % of female adopters and 50% of males own ox-carts against only 7% of female adopters. On the other hand, there are no differences in the ownership of radios and good clothing and food

security status between male and female adopters. It is likely that both men and women adopters are relatively better off but that proxies to gauge the socio-economic status differ between men and women.

Level of education The level of education between female and male adopters is significantly different (Table IV). On average female adopters are better educated than male adopters. About 70% of female adopters have an education above standard 5 against 34% male adopters. There are no significant differences regarding age.

Treadle pump dissemination approaches and gender The major suppliers of treadle pumps are the Ministry of Agriculture (65%), NGOs (17%) and donors (7%). This underlines the large commitment of the Malawi government to treadle pump promotion. The government is also very active in the provision of training in treadle pump use. Most adopters received training from the irrigation department

Figure 3. Level of education. This figure is available in colour online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ird Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Figure 4. Ownership of assets. This figure is available in colour online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ird

Table IV. Level of education of male and female adopters Level of education

None Standard 1–5 Standard 6–8 Form 1–2 Form 3–4 Tertiary education

Female adopters

Male adopters

Number

%

No.

%

Chi square

3 6 16 11 4 0

7.5 15 40 28 10 0

4 19 12 2 3 1

10 4 29 5 7 2

14.838†

Note: † 1% significant.

staff (as opposed to from NGOs and learning from other farmers). More male adopters (70%) received training on treadle pump use than female adopters (52%). There is no clear relation between the provider of training and the level of male or female participation in the training. The farmers who received training on the use of treadle pumps water their crops more frequently than those who did not receive training. It can be assumed that during the training farmers learned about crop water requirements and therefore properly managing the water for the crops, but this should be verified through field measurements on water use and yields. Until 2003 the government provided treadle pumps at a subsidized rate. Thereafter farmers were requested to pay the full price while provisions were made to ensure farmers could get access to loans. Loans were given with the assumption that farmers could earn back the purchase price of the pump within 2 years of use. There is a clear relationship between gender and the year of purchase (statistically significant at 1%). On average 80% of women adopted the treadle pumps earlier than 2003 and only 45% of males adopted in the same period of time. The pump prices differ significantly between male and female adopters. At least 50% of female adopters purchased the pumps at less than US$25 and most of Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

them paid by cash, whilst 70% of male adopters purchased the pumps at above US$57 but mostly paid by a loan. This can be attributed to the change in subsidy policies. Before 2003 when pumps were provided at subsidized rates by paying cash more women adopted. After 2003 when pumps were sold at full price but through loans more men adopted treadle pumps. This finding indicates that low subsidized pump prices are more conducive for adoption by women than the provision of loans. From our data there is no evidence that subsidies negatively affect sustainability of use (but this may be too early to tell). Pumps were sold to individuals and to groups. The survey data show that male farmers are slightly more likely to own treadle pumps in groups than female farmers, though the difference is not statistically significant. Both men and women perceive the pump as very useful, though men rated the pumps slightly more positively: over 90% of men perceived the pump as very useful against 70% of the women.

Treadle pump benefits: household expenditure and food security Income per unit irrigated area is nearly twice as high among treadle pump adopters as compared to non-adopters Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012)

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(significant at 1%; refer to Table III). Household expenditure and household consumption expenditure among adopters is also significantly higher than among non-adopters. Adopters spend more than 50% more on household expenditure and consumption than non-adopters. About 90% of the adopters are food secure against 40% of the non-adopters. Over 70% of the adopters noted that they were food insecure before adoption of the treadle pump. Prior to adoption of the treadle pump, nearly half of all the adopters depleted their food stocks between October and December, 4–6 months before the next harvest (Mangisoni, 2006). Female adopters spent 50% more on household expenditures and food than men (significant at 1%), though the size of their irrigated land is smaller. There is a significant difference in the way men and women spend their income for their household. Female adopters spend 70% more than men on for their household consumption and 60% more than men on household general expenditure (Table V). This reflects the household roles that women play as primary contributors of food at household level.

level above Form 2. The implication is that for those with a higher level of education, treadle pumps may not be a preferred technology, while treadle pump adoption among illiterate farmers might have been constrained by lack of information or awareness. The model results confirmed our prior hypothesis that treadle pump adoption and farmers’ age are nonlinearly related. Younger farmers had a higher chance of adopting treadle pumps, implying two issues: labour availability and the relative innovativeness of younger farmers.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Determinants of treadle pump adoption The study indicates that relatively well-to-do farmers in the study areas in Malawi have a significantly higher probability of adopting treadle pumps than their poorer counterparts. Socio-economic characteristics of treadle pump adopters clearly point to better-off farmers, despite claims that treadle pumps are a pro-poor technology that self-select the poor (Shah et al., 2000). Our study results show that the following factors determine treadle pump adoption:

LOGIT MODEL RESULTS

• education levels of the household head. As the level of education of the household head increases, the likelihood of adopting treadle pump technology increases (in our sample better educated farmers tend to be younger). This confirms the need for special technical and managerial skills to use technologies properly. Since the poor farmers are less educated or illiterate, there is a need for special training programmes to enable the poorest farmers to adopt and successfully manage the technology; • socio-economic characteristics of the household head: Younger farmers have a higher chance of adopting treadle pump than older ones because of

The logistic regression model results are summarized in Table VI. Except for gender, most of the hypothesized variables had the expected signs. Women-headed households had a higher likelihood of being treadle pump technology adopters. This might be due to the treadle pump dissemination approaches followed by some NGOs, which specifically targeted women. The relationship between treadle pump adoption and level of education is nonlinear. Households with a level of education from standard 1 to Form 2 had a higher likelihood of adopting treadle pumps, while there is no significant difference in treadle pump adoption probability between illiterate farmers and those having education

Table V. Male and female adopters’ benefits Variable

Female adopters

Male adopters

N

Mean

N

Mean

Household expenditure (MK)

48

9260.77

47

6791.08

Household consumption expenditure (MK)

51

29000.53

48

18038.44

Value of livestock owned (MK)

12

35896.67

31

48802.12

t Std error difference 1.426 (1 731.88){ 2.811 (3 899.99){ 1.143 11 288.069

Notes: *10% significant; † 5% significant; { 1% significant. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012)

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Table VI. Factors influencing treadle pump adoption in Malawi: logistic regression results Variables Age of the household head in years Age squared Income from other sources in kwacha Gender (1 = male, 0 = female) Level of education Standard 1 to 5 Standard 6 to 8 Form 1 to 2 Form 3 to 4 High school and above Number of plots cultivated 2 to 3 5 to 6 >6 Own livestock Housing quality Own ox-cart Constant 2 log likelihood function Χ2 Per cent correct prediction

B

Exp (B)

0.204† 0.002† 0.000{ 0.778*

1.227 0.998 1.000 0.459

1.142* 1.280* 1.535* 1.317 24.546

3.133 3.596 4.639 3.732 4.573E10

0.692* 0.025 1.116 1.028* 0.326 1.488† 6.411{

1.998 1.025 3.052 2.794 1.386 4.429 .002 175.95 51.18{ 74.4

Notes: *10% significant; † 5% significant; { 1% significant.

the physical demands of its operation. Women have better chance of adopting treadle pump technology because of dissemination approaches followed by some NGOs, which specifically targeted women; • landownership or size. As the number of plots owned by a household increases, the probability of treadle pump adoption increases. The sizes of land owned indicate the increased need for labour and hence the labour-saving motives of the farmer; • asset ownership. Farmers owning assets like bicycles, good housing, ox-carts and livestock have more chance of adopting treadle pump technology. This confirms the socio-economic status of the farmers likely to adopt the treadle pump since owning such assets indicates farmers’ ability to purchase capital items. Also, owning means of transport facilitates transporting treadle pumps between fields; • income from sources other than agriculture. As the level of income from non-farm and off-farm employment and other sources such as remittances increases, the probability of adopting the treadle pump increases. This indicates the importance of availability of cash and the ability to take some risks in the initial adoption decision of the farmers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Treadle pump dissemination approaches and benefits The study indicates that subsidized treadle pumps paid for by cash are more likely to be adopted by women, but if the pumps are not subsidized and paid through loans, then men are more likely to adopt. This implies that to increase women’s access to treadle pumps it is better to subsidize the pump rather than provide them by loans. The results of this study confirm that treadle pump adoption increases farmers’ income, as has been shown by many studies before. But the use of income on household consumption varies between men and women. Women spend a larger part of their income for household consumption and expenditure than men. This implies that when women adopt treadle pumps benefits are more likely to directly benefit the households’ food security than when men adopt. This might be a good justification to provide necessary support to enable women’s access to this technology. However, previous studies also point to the labour-intensive nature of the treadle pump, adding a burden to women’s already heavy workloads. The fact that women are willing to adopt is an indication that less labour-intensive but economically viable alternatives to income generation are not available or accessible. Whether treadle pumps are the best option compared to other interventions is an open question. Irrig. and Drain. 61: 583–595 (2012)


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