So far, no study had been conducted to assess the impact of participation in BVIS on household
agricultural income since the scheme was passed on to the local farmers for co-management. This
paper aimed at addressing the following questions: (a) Does the growing of crops under irrigation
improve household agricultural income of participating farmers, and does the impact vary with
number of crops grown? (b) Do the poor and other marginalized participants3 benefit from participating
in the irrigation scheme and, among the participating groups, who benefit the most from the
scheme? Addressing these questions provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of irrigation
as a strategy for reducing rural poverty. Furthermore, this paper provides important insights
and lessons for improving the performance of the current irrigation scheme or designing future
irrigation programs.