The Rural-Urban Linkages under Irrigation Farming Scheme: The Case of Merawi Town and the Watershed of Koga Irrigation Project, Ethiopia

Abstract

Rural-urban linkages have the potential to play an important role in the generation of income, employment, and wealth for both rural and urban areas. The paper examines urban-rural linkages under irrigation schemes by taking the case of Merawi Town with Koga Irrigation watershed region. In line with this, the study intended to analyze the case areas' forward and backward production linkages, consumption linkages, and marketing linkages. Farmers, merchants, urban residents, and government officials who directly have a part in the rural-urban linkage process were questioned to gather qualitative and quantitative data, which was then used to address the goals that were supposed to be met. The findings disclosed that the level of rural-urban linkage in production linkage in the study area was fragile. The backward production linkage was relatively better than the forward production linkage. The availability of farming inputs in the nearby town was the main factor for the existing backward production linkage. The backward production linkage in the study area was reflected mainly through farmers' use of herbicides and insecticides and irrigation equipment supplied from Merawi town. Based on the findings, to foster the existing rural-urban linkage of the case area, there should be updates on marketing system improvement, expanding agro-processing industries, providing basic and farm-related infrastructures, improving the supply of farming inputs and protecting eucalyptus tree invasion over the irrigation-shade area.