Operating solar powered drip irrigation
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Authors
David Brazier
Issue Date
2016-06
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Agriculture , Energy
Alternative Title
Abstract
Image taken of Practical Action work for IWMI publication on women and irrigation August 2017 Improved access to water for smallholder farmers – creating gardens equipped with solar pumping, tank supply systems and drip irrigation Increasing crop production and crop diversification with starter packs for diverse vegetable crops and organic fertilizer Training of trainers cascaded to farmers in: Maintenance of solar and pumping systems Water conservation technologies Community seed multiplication Livelihood-centred disaster risk reduction, analysing risks and planning mitigation Participatory extension approaches Diversifying income sources and value addition e.g. drying and food processing A marketing associations formed with capacity building Distribution of goats and indigenous chicken Knowledge materials for crops: onion, carrots, brassica vegetables and tomato The El Nino induced drought resulted in crop failure. The 2015/16 harvests of cereals and tubers failed in the 2015/16 season. Beneficiary farmers on the solar gardens are getting some income from sale of vegetable products. And are using the money to buy food leaving very little or nothing as savings. Communities have increased the use of sustainable production practices such as intercropping and manure use. Livestock farmers were trained on how to manage their stock in situations of limited grazing with issues such as supplementary feeding and destocking as examples. Emergency food assistance to 397 households is being offered in the form of cash transfer to the vulnerable. The technologies are replicable to any area where there is a reliable water supply. Climate change has resulted in extreme weather with low rainfall resulting in reduce available water for irrigation , drip technology is an ideal technology where every drop of water is efficiently utilised to support production systems.