Choosing an Irrigation System
Article & Photos by Felix Reinders
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
I
rrigated agriculture plays a major role in the livelihoods of
nations all over the world and
although irrigation is one of
the oldest known agricultural techniques, improvements are still being
made in irrigation practices and
methods. Irrigation in South Africa
is currently practiced on 1 600 000
hectares and it uses 60% of the
available water.
but depends upon many factors.
Often sites are suited to several
methods of irrigation and the final
selection is based on factors such as
water supply, soil, topography, climate, crop, labour availability, energy, initial costs, operating costs,
adaptability to farming operations,
adaptability for other uses, personal
preference, and reliability of the
supplier and after-sales service.
Selecting an irrigation system for a
site is not always straight forward
Whether you are using irrigation for
the first time or considering chang-
ing from your current irrigation system there are a number of factors
one should consider when choosing
an irrigation system and the various
factors that play a part in the selection include:
Irrigation system
There are different irrigation systems available on the market today.
They vary in terms of individual
components and cost and generally
they can be classified into three
groups. See table 1
Table 1: Classification of irrigation systems
Irrigation group
Irrigation System
Flood
Border
Basin
Furrow
Short-Furrow
Mobile
Centre Pivot
Linear
Travelling gun
Static
Sprinkler: Permanent
Portable:
Quick coupling
Dragline
Hop-along
Boom
Side-roll
Big gun
Micro:
Micro sprayers
Mini sprinklers
Drip