CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Up until 2010, when the service industry surpassed agriculture as Nigeria's largest contributor to GDP, agriculture has long served as the backbone of the country's economy (GDP). About 29.9% of the nation's GDP in 2010 came from the agriculture industry (GDP).

Through farming, the marketing of farm goods, and the provision of other services, it directly employs roughly 50.6% of the labour force of the country and openly supports about 80% of the entire population (MoFA, 2012). Although agriculture makes a significant economic contribution to the nation, it is vulnerable due to its reliance on rain-fed crops. Droughts and other unpredictably weathered conditions put farmers at considerable risk.

 By enabling year-round farming, irrigation development holds up the possibility of better food security and sustained rural development in these circumstances. In most cases, boosting the productivity of currently used agricultural land depends on irrigation (Namara , Horowitz , Nyamadi , Barry 2011).

In response to successive governments appreciating irrigation's ability to boost agricultural output and guarantee food security, various levels of government intervention have been made in this area. In the 2011 budget announcement, for instance, the government proclaimed the conclusion of Nigeria's dam rehabilitation efforts as part of its commitment to modernizing agriculture (Budget Statement, 2011).

Furthermore The development of Nigeria's water resources for agriculture has consumed a lot of resources throughout the years. Government built numerous dams and pumping stations as early as the 1970s, notably in the arid northern region of the country.. In order to irrigate 725000 hectares of agriculture, as well as other farming uses, home uses, and industrial uses, a total of 162 dams had been built by the year 1990.

According to Tang and Liu (2013) as of 1990, N5.1 billion has been released nationwide for the improvement of the nation's water resources. The sum then climbed significantly in the new millennium before reaching a peak of N64.3 billion in 2015. Later, the sum decreased marginally to N55.3 billion in 2016 (Federal Ministry or Water Resources, 2016). The Rural Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) and dams were built by the Nigerian government throughout time to irrigate farms and increase food production in the nation. The ongoing simple Fadama (in-land valley lands which are low-lying and periodically flooded) development programmes were also developed by the government.

The National Fadama Development Project is administered by the World Bank, with assistance from the Agricultural Development Projects Authorities (NFDP). Despite these significant investments, the country's agriculture is still conducted mostly at a relatively local scale because of poor infrastructures, ineffective marketing strategies, and limited human capacity, which results in low resource productivity.

Due to the factors influencing farmers willingness to pay for irrigation, bottlenecks in the country's agricultural sector, a number of corrective solutions have been suggested as a solution to the issue (Tang and Liu2013). The rationale behind water charging and pricing is typically founded on the idea of increasing resource allocation efficiency in light of the growing scarcity and competition for water. However, while the financial benefits of water pricing/charging and efficiency incentives have been extensively debated and prescribed, concerns relating to the end users' ability to pay for irrigation resources have gotten no attention in Nigeria.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Over the years, traditional furrow irrigation has been used by smallholder farmers in Lagos. Under this approach, water is freely permitted to flow through furrows along the ground between the crops. The drawback of this approach is that only approximately half of the water really reaches the crops. Additionally, since there is no framework to support operating and maintenance tasks, unfettered water abstraction is not sustainable.

 However, the current upgrading (changing to pressurized networks) will necessitate farmers  to pay a fee under the management of irrigation water users’ association. Being a new system, there is little documentation on the reaction of smallholder users to the introduction of water pricing. As a result, there is a bottleneck for farmers in Lagos State, and there are factors that affect their desire to pay for the service. Farmers' often experience low overall income and the lack of proper agricultural training and workshops for farmers have been challenges that have influenced farmers' willingness to pay for advanced irrigation services.. Therefore the study centers on Factors Affecting Farmers Willingness to Pay for Irrigation System in Nigeria.

1.3    OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

          The general purpose of the study is to assess factors affecting farmers willingness to pay for irrigation system in Nigeria . The specifics objectives of the study are:

1) To examine the Determinants Of Farmers’ Willingness To Pay For Irrigation Water

2) To outline the role of irrigation system on agricultural development in Lagos state

3) To examine the influence of farmers access to agricultural training on farmers willingness to pay for irrigation system in Lagos state

4)To examine the influence of farmers total income farmers willingness to pay for irrigation system in Lagos state

1.4 Research questions

1 What are the Determinants Of Farmers’ Willingness To Pay For Irrigation Water?

2. what is the role of irrigation system on agricultural development in Lagos state?

3 what is the influence of farmers access to agricultural training on farmers willingness to pay for irrigation system in Lagos state?

4 what is the influence of farmers total income farmers willingness to pay for irrigation system in Lagos state?

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

HO: There is no significant  influence of farmers access to agricultural training on farmers willingness to pay for irrigation system in Lagos state

H1: There is a significant  influence of farmers access to agricultural training on farmers willingness to pay for irrigation system in Lagos state

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study would enable the researcher to pass their experience on the subject matter to the

Society: This study will be beneficial to the society because it will serve as a medium of creating awareness on the need for irrigation farming among farmers in Nigeria.

Law makers (political agents): This will serve as a tool to lawmakers in other to guide them make laws which favorable to farmers and the agricultural in other to encourage food security in Nigeria.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The Study Is Restricted To Factors Affecting Farmers Willingness To Pay For Irrigation System In Nigeria

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The researcher was faced with the following constraints in carrying out this study:

Time: The time within the researcher is too short to carry on the detail study on this topic.

Resources: Another constraint of the researcher is financial resources to carry on the detail study of this topic.

Data: Another limitation to this study will be lack of data to make valid study on the research problem.

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

IRRIGATION: Irrigation is the agricultural process of applying controlled amounts of water to land to assist in the production of crops, as well as to grow landscape plants and lawns, where it may be known as watering. Agriculture that does not use irrigation but instead relies only on direct rainfall is referred to as rain-fed.

WILLINGNESS: consent or readiness to do something

FARMERS: A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock.