The factors that have the most significant influence on community participation need to be determined and strengthened, if enhanced community participation in irrigation projects is to be achieved. Despite the good intentions of the government of Tanzania to adopt community participation as a necessary condition in implementation of agricultural development projects, failure of irrigation projects remains a problem threatening their long term sustainability. This is due to limited community participation, among other factors. Community participation can be influenced by a number of socio-cultural and economic factors. However, the exact understanding of the factors that significantly influence individual’s decision to participate in the projects remains limited. Therefore, the research upon which this paper is based was conducted in Geita District, Tanzania, to determine the factors influencing community participation in the projects. A cross-sectional research design was adopted for the research in which a combination of purposive and simple random sampling techniques was employed to select a sample of 120 respondents. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaire survey and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to perform inferential analysis using a logit regression model. The results showed that training was the most significant (p < 0.01) factor influencing positively participation in the projects. It is recommended that the government at all levels should undertake training needs assessment and intensify farmers’ training to cover more beneficiaries in the community.

Keywords: Community, Community participation, Community empowerment, Project sustainability