This analysis of 17 small and 3 large irrigation schemes located along the River Senegal attempts to establish benchmarks for both productivity and performance of irrigation schemes along the valley, and to inquire whether small schemes function better than large schemes.The analysis of the indicators revealed that, on average, large schemes performed similarly to small-scale schemes, but small schemes were more variable, particularly in input-use efficiency. Data envelopment analysis also identified the particular efficient schemes that should be taken as reference for improvement of each inefficient scheme.