Small-Scale Irrigation, Gender Dynamics, and Household Food Security Dataset from Emba Alaje District, South Tigray, Ethiopia (2020/2021)

This dataset contains household survey data collected from 137 rural households in Emba Alaje District, South Tigray, Ethiopia, during the 2020/2021 production year. The study was conducted to examine the determinants of farmers' participation in small-scale irrigation, assess gender roles in irrigation-related agricultural activities, analyze crop-choice decisions among irrigation users, and evaluate the impact of irrigation on household food security outcomes. The sample consists of 67 irrigation users and 70 non-users selected through a multistage sampling procedure. The dataset includes demographic, socioeconomic, institutional, and physical-access variables such as age, education, family size, cultivated land size, livestock holding, access to credit, extension contact frequency, market access, distance to irrigation water sources, and distance to Farmers Training Centers (FTCs). It also contains information on crop production decisions, irrigation participation, and gender-disaggregated labor contributions across agricultural activities including land preparation, planting, weeding, irrigation management, harvesting, marketing, and farm decision-making. Food security indicators included in the dataset comprise household calorie intake, food availability, food variety score, Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), household dietary diversity, and household income measures. The dataset was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Probit regression, Logit regression, and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) techniques to investigate irrigation adoption and its welfare impacts. The data can support research on agricultural development, irrigation management, food security, gender and agriculture, rural livelihoods, climate adaptation, and agricultural extension systems in Ethiopia and other developing countries. Personal identifiers have been removed to protect respondent confidentiality.