What is drip irrigation?

Agriculturalists describe drip irrigation as a system of providing moisture around the roots of plants by letting water to trickle into the soil.

Some people put water in plastic bottles and make a tiny
hole at the bottom of each bottle to allow the water to drip out and
to drop around the base of each plant. Other farmers use bigger water
containers like five-litre-cans which they place close to the stems of
crops such as passion fruit, or young coffee trees.

The farmer has to be sure how much water the particular crop under
irrigation needs periodically. It is also important to regularly
inspect the garden to ensure that all the containers have sufficient
water.

The farmer is burdened with carrying water to the garden and
making sure that each container has some water dropping out and at the
correct rate. We have to remember that irrigation is practised in
situations where rainfall is scarce and therefore the farmer must be
sure there is a good supply of water to support drip irrigation.

In their groups, smallholder farmers might need to pool resources
together to pump the water from a nearby river or a lake, unless they
will each use their bicycles to carry water containers from the rivers
and swamps. Some farmers may devise ways to harvest sufficient
rainwater during the wet season which they can use for drip
irrigation.

The well off farmers carry out drip irrigation with water
supplied through pipes leading to the different rows of crop plants
where small nozzles constantly let out drops of water around the plant
roots.

This is normally done by pumping water to a large tank located
on the higher side of the garden to allow the water to flow into the
drip irrigation pipes by gravity.

One big advantage with drip irrigation is that it only supports the
growth of the target crop plant and not the weeds since the water
supply is only limited to the root area of the crop.
Drip irrigation also enables the farmer to apply chemical fertilisers by mixing them with the water.

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