Farmers Review Africa Sept/Oct 2018 FRA - September - October 2018 digital 5 | Page 56

FEATURE
Dry season
farm irrigation
Benefits of rain water harvesting
Rain water harvesting eliminates
the cost of pumping water for farm
irrigation with power generators.
This also makes the operations more
sustainable since cases of inadequate
water will be solved by the daily
pumping of well water for purposes of
supply till harvest times.
On the other hand, there are also
solar powered pumping machines
that could reduce the cost of pumping
water on a small farm, with little initial
capital. Ideally, profitability of the farm
operations increases with cost-cutting water
collection and solar pumping machines.
By Nita Karume
I
t often goes without saying that the
prices of agricultural produce in dry
seasons are often much higher than
produce in the rainy seasons. This is
because rain-fed agriculture allows all
farmers to cultivate and harvest almost
simultaneously.
However, irrigation facilities enable
farmers to beat the law of demand and
supply in this case. As such, they are
able to produce crops at odd periods
especially the dry season when rain-fed
agricultural products are not available.
Unfortunately, the short supply of
irrigated crops always forces the
prices up. It would thus be a wise
move for any farmer to produce for
such periods. To accomplish this, said
farmers should look into digging wells,
boreholes, using dams and collection
of rain water into tanks for farm
irrigation in the dry season.
54 |September - October 2018
Water collection
In both small and large scale, dry
season farming requires adequate
planning. This is inclusive of rain water
collection during the dry periods of
September to November. For instance,
small scale farmers of one or two
acres of land can save cost of sinking
a borehole or pumping water for farm
irrigation by collecting water into
underground reservoirs or plastic tanks.
Several plastic tanks of 6,000 to
10,000 litres could be purchased,
put on a slightly elevated floor at the
highest points on the piece of land to
be used for irrigated farming. From
the elevated floor, water can flow from
the tanks to the crops through drip
irrigation holes.
Alternatively, civil engineers and
welders can help with the construction
of underground or overhead tanks
on the farm. Rain water will then
collected into these through improvised
rain collection devices.
This, in turn, serves to increase the
disposable income of farmers and their
households, meeting their basic needs
and improving their living standards.
Dry season crops
Early maturing crops that could be
planted in the dry season include
cucumber, sweet melon, watermelon,
maize and okra. These crops appear
ordinary, but when produced out of the
regular season, they are highly profitable.
Drip irrigation maximizes water
utilization efficiency. This in turn
eliminates waste, unlike sprinkler or
flooding irrigation systems. The system
uses tiny holes on the farmland, with
drips of water dropping from the
calibrated outlets from the holes to the base
of the crops. This way, water is adequately
utilized and good results obtained.
According to research, an hour of
irrigation is enough for the plants in
a day. This can be done 30 minutes
in the morning and 30 minutes in the
evening. Moreover, keeping in mind the
volume of water needed, early maturing
varieties of the said crops are necessary.