Energy options for irrigated agriculture and their impacts on returns: Evidence from Ethiopia
4 affiliations
- 1Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
- 2Development Economics, Prospects Group, The World Bank, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
- 3United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
- 4Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
Abstract
Irrigated agriculture often relies on modern energy technologies, but farmers must choose between options with different costs, benefits, and long-term returns. This study employs a mixed-methods approach combining a comprehensive household- and plot-level survey conducted in Ethiopia during 2016/17 with qualitative evidence from focus group discussions and key informant interviews, as well as bio-physical and climatic data linked to geo-referenced household and plot locations. The quantitative dataset includes 464 rural households and 1,037 irrigated plots across four regions and ten districts of Ethiopia. Because farmers self-select into different irrigation energy technologies, simple comparisons of returns across users may produce biased estimates. To address this issue and strengthen causal inference, the study applies a multivalued treatment effects framework using the Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) estimator to construct counterfactual outcomes and compare net returns across irrigation energy systems. Results show that while diesel pumps yield the highest total value of production per hectare, the estimated mean net returns are higher with electric pumps and manual systems. Increased fuel and maintenance costs are the main reasons for the low net return of diesel pump systems. These findings underscore the importance of promoting affordable, reliable, and sustainable irrigation energy technologies to address high energy costs, a significant constraint on improving agricultural productivity and farm net returns in smallholder irrigation systems, while supporting rural electrification, climate-resilient agriculture, and sustainable irrigation development in Ethiopia.
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BibTeX
@article{bekele2026energy,
title = {{Energy options for irrigated agriculture and their impacts on returns: Evidence from Ethiopia}},
author = {Rahel Deribe Bekele and Dawit Mekonnen and Tiruwork Arega and Marc Jeuland},
journal = {PLOS Water},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pwat.0000601},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000601},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Energy options for irrigated agriculture and their impacts on returns: Evidence from Ethiopia
AU - Rahel Deribe Bekele
AU - Dawit Mekonnen
AU - Tiruwork Arega
AU - Marc Jeuland
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
JO - PLOS Water
DO - 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000601
UR - https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000601
AB - Irrigated agriculture often relies on modern energy technologies, but farmers must choose between options with different costs, benefits, and long-term returns. This study employs a mixed-methods approach combining a comprehensive household- and plot-level survey conducted in Ethiopia during 2016/17 with qualitative evidence from focus group discussions and key informant interviews, as well as bio-physical and climatic data linked to geo-referenced household and plot locations. The quantitative dataset includes 464 rural households and 1,037 irrigated plots across four regions and ten districts of Ethiopia. Because farmers self-select into different irrigation energy technologies, simple comparisons of returns across users may produce biased estimates. To address this issue and strengthen causal inference, the study applies a multivalued treatment effects framework using the Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) estimator to construct counterfactual outcomes and compare net returns across irrigation energy systems. Results show that while diesel pumps yield the highest total value of production per hectare, the estimated mean net returns are higher with electric pumps and manual systems. Increased fuel and maintenance costs are the main reasons for the low net return of diesel pump systems. These findings underscore the importance of promoting affordable, reliable, and sustainable irrigation energy technologies to address high energy costs, a significant constraint on improving agricultural productivity and farm net returns in smallholder irrigation systems, while supporting rural electrification, climate-resilient agriculture, and sustainable irrigation development in Ethiopia.
SN - 2767-3219
ER -