Challenges and Opportunities Towards Small-scale Irrigation Based Onion Production: The Case of Fentale District, Oromiya Regional State, Ethiopia

Onion is one of the important vegetable crops grown by farmers mostly for market purpose. This study focus on explore the challenges and opportunities of small-scale irrigation onion production at fentale district. Samples of 180 onion producer smallholder households were selected through multi-stage random sampling from the three kebeles of Fentale district. Sources of data were both the primary and secondary sources. The primary quantitative data were collected through Interview schedule while the qualitative were collected by FGD and KIIs methods. The data analysis methods also encompassed both quantitative and qualitative. Descriptive statistics (percentage) were employed to analysis quantitative data while qualitative data were analysed by narrations and interpreting the meaning of words. The result of the descriptive statistic reveals that the high cost of inputs, fluctuation in irrigation access, disease and pest, the input supply shortage, high labour cost, flood problem and informal sources of seed were the challenges of onion production at the study area. Besides the high income gained from onion, access to irrigation, good weather condition and the high yield of onion from a small plot were the major opportunities to produce onion at the area. Finally, the researcher recommended that the Government organizations and other responsible bodies should ensure the equal distribution of irrigation water for both upper and lower streams, and strengthen inputs supply chains.