Using Principal Component Analysis to Identify Latent Factors Influencing Ghanaian Irrigation Project Abandonment

Despite the investments and efforts to develop irrigation systems, many irrigation projects in Ghana are not working up to design expectations, whilst others have been abandoned altogether. To address this, factors influencing the abandonment of small-scale irrigation schemes in Ghana were interrogated. The study employed the quantitative approach to gather data from key stakeholders. Of the 170 questionnaires distributed, 125 responses were retrieved and analysed using factor analysis. The study revealed that 12 factors influence the abandonment of small-scale irrigation projects and subsequently grouped them into institutional, social, construction, and economic factors. Social factors had the most significant influence (28.68%), followed by economic factors (22.10%), and construction factors (18.88%), with institutional factors having the least impact (10.79%). This is the first study to identify factors influencing the abandonment of small-scale irrigation projects in Ghana. Given the extremely high cost of small-scale irrigation projects, this study would be invaluable in supporting the holistic design of future small-scale irrigation infrastructure in Ghana to prevent further financial loss to the government and taxpayers. The study is limited to abandoned small-scale irrigation projects in Ghana.