A low technology drip irrigation system to water seedlings.

 

Mr Harouna Kaboré, a Mossi farmer from the village Manefyam in the province of Kourwéogo, Burkina Faso

Small is beautiful: Restoring degraded lands, one parcel at a time

The Aichi Biodiversity Targets agreed in Nagoya in 2012 included restoring 15% of the world’s degraded ecosystems by 2020 (Target 15). Subsequent assessments have led to estimates that for terrestrial ecosystems, this 15% means restoring a staggering 350 million hectares – and requires billions of tons of tree seed and trillions of seedlings. 

In the third blog in the CBD COP13 Forest and Landscape Restoration Blog Series, Bioversity International partner, Mr Harouna Kaboré, a Mossi farmer from the village Manefyam in the province of Kourwéogo, Burkina Faso, talks about his experience restoring three hectares of his household’s degraded lands in the context of a newly launched research initiative on nutrition-sensitive forest restoration.

By Marlène Elias and Barbara Vinceti

Mr Kaboré is a 38-year-old farmer and father of seven. In his fields in Manefyam, he displays his skills and experience restoring three hectares of degraded lands through fencing to protect the natural regeneration of trees, selectively tilling, and sowing or selectively planting trees. A self-motivated man, he has planted 2800 trees of value for medicine, nutrition and income over a 10 year period on land that was previously degraded. Due to natural mortality, many of the trees have not survived, but his efforts are relentless. With the support of the burkinabé association tiipaalga, he has also learned about the uses of many species previously unknown to him that now grow in his protected fields; and many species that were previously only encountered in distant areas have also populated these lands. Some came on their own and he no longer has to purchase their goods on the market.

According to Mr Kaboré, in this fenced area, plants grow taller and faster because they are protected from animals. He finds that the high mix of species is beneficial for his trees, and also for the crops growing around the protected area, as the bees living in the cavities of large trees pollinate his crops.

An innovator, Mr Kaboré has devised a low technology drip irrigation system to water his seedlings. Every week, this system slowly but steadily delivers his prized seedlings with 20 liters of water, one drop at a time.

Farmers’ understanding of agroforestry and drip irrigation.

 

Drip irrigation system to water seeds at the bottom of the bamboo tube with protective covering. Photo: World Agroforestry Centre/Amy Lumban Gaol – http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Drip-system.jpg

Surviving the long dry season in Konawe Selatan with improved farming systems

Farmers in Indonesia are more optimistic about surviving the increasingly long dry seasons because the World Agroforestry Centre is improving their understanding of agroforestry and drip irrigation.

By Amy Lumban Gaol

Up until recently, for farmers in Konawe Selatan, Kendari District, Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia their understanding of agroforestry was to mix trees and crops together in the home garden with little or no planning or management. The results were not optimal: little or no yields and failed plantings. The farmers were unaware that there were techniques that could be followed in mixing crops, for example, calculating the specific distance between particular species of tree, the suitability of plants for combination and where to plant them in relation to one another.

The situation had been further challenged by a prolonged dry season that caused the failure of many crops, leading farmers to experience difficult times with low incomes and very limited water. With temperatures over 37 degrees and no rain for almost half the year, many crops died. And if the farmers were able to water their crops, the water would evaporate in minutes, leaving the plots as if they hadn’t been watered for months.

To help farmers meet these challenges, the Agroforestry and Forestry in Sulawesi (AgFor) project team has been working to improve farmers’ knowledge of drip irrigation and agroforestry techniques. AgFor is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, Canada and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. After two years of operation in Kolaka Timur and Konawe in Southeast Sulawesi, AgFor started in Konawe Selatan and Kota Kendari in 2014. Konawe Selatan has two sub-districts, Lalembuu and Wolasi, in which seven villages participate actively in AgFor.

Read the full story: Agroforestry World

 

To provide farmers with training and support to implement soil-saving techniques

Photo credit: Google

Farmer Kuria Samuel practices drip irrigation in the Tana River Basin, Kenya.

 

Africa’s first Water Fund

By Stephanie Malyon, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture’s (CIAT) Communication Specialist for Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Originally published on the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) blog on March 20, 2015.

Tackling rising threats to food security, water and energy supplies

Every rainy season Jane Kabugi’s home comes under attack. The torrential rain so desperately needed downstream to fuel Kenya’s rising electricity demands – and Nairobi’s water requirements – has literally been tearing her home and farm apart.

“Our soil is very soft. So when it rains, the rain tends to take the soil away,” says Jane Kabugi on her farm. Photo: Stephanie Malyon

“There was a time when this house of mine was almost gone; it was starting to crack. An engineer came and said ‘if you want to save your house you need to make a strong hold so that the soil can be held’,” she said.

Like 90 per cent of the one million farmers in Kenya’s Tana region, northwest of Nairobi, Jane’s land sits on a steep hillside with a 75 percent incline. She explains: “Our soil is very soft. So when it rains, the rain tends to take the soil away. If I put manure it takes it, if I put fertiliser it takes it.”

Far from just affecting farmer homes and livelihoods in one of Kenya’s most agriculturally productive areas, the knock-on effect downstream is threatening water and energy supplies. As torrents carry precious top soil away from farms into the watershed, the Tana River, which drives half of Kenya’s hydropower-generated electricity and provides 95 per cent of Nairobi’s water, becomes choked with sediment.

Today (20 March 2015), in a first for Africa, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and partners* including the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), launched a landmark initiative aimed at supporting farmers and upstream users, like Jane, to curb the soil erosion that leads to reduced water and heavy cleaning costs.

The Tana-Nairobi Water Fund is a public-private scheme uniting big business, utilities, conservation groups, government, researchers and farmers. It aims to increase farm productivity upstream, while improving water supply and cutting costs of hydropower and clean water for users downstream, and is designed to generate US$21.5 million in long-term benefits to Kenyan citizens, including farmers and businesses.

The Tana-Nairobi Water Fund is a public-private scheme uniting big business, utilities, conservation groups, government, researchers and farmers.

The drip irrigation technology (IFAD)

Read at : IFAD electronic newsletter

http://www.ifad.org/newsletter/pf/20_full.htm#5

Madagascar: introducing the drip irrigation technology

Drip irrigation is an irrigation method that saves water and fertilizer by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either onto the soil surface or directly onto the root zone, through a network of valves, pipes and emitters. It is done with the help of narrow tubes that deliver water directly to the base of the plant. Drip irrigation technology is one alternative that improves the distribution of water (with the help of irrigation ramps) and also reduces the amount of water that is brought to each plant. The efficiency and cost-effectiveness of drip irrigation are notably superior to more traditional irrigation methods.

The technology was first introduced in Madagascar by the Scaling Up Micro-Irrigation Systems project (SCAMPIS), which adapted the kit to the local environment and subsidized some of the equipment. SCAMPIS aims to promote water security for poor rural households. It was soon taken up by the Programme d’appui à la résilience aux crises alimentaires à Madagascar (PARECAM or Programme to Support Resilience to Food Crises in Madagascar), a programme funded by the EU Food Facility which was implemented through the IFAD-supported projects already in place on the island. Together PARECAM and SCAMPIS subsidized 85 per cent of the kits and 100 per cent of the pumps. A system costs approximately US$ 70 and a pump (which can be used for more than kit) costs around US$95, which remains rather costly for the poorest producers.

In order to keep the cost as low as possible, different drip kits were devised for land areas of 50m2, 100m2 and 200m2. Water pressure is regulated from an elevated reservoir that is fed by a pedal pump. One reservoir can feed several drip kits. In theory, a farmer can gradually extend the irrigated surface by purchasing additional kits, which can be used individually or collectively. The more kits that can be fed by one water source, the more cost-effective the system is.

(continued)

Drip irrigation (Hydroponics), alternative for food security to combat child malnutrition (Spanish) – ( Prensa Libre)

Read at :

http://www.prensalibre.com/quetzaltenango/Riego-goteo-mejora-cultivos-hogares_0_725327509.html

25/06/12 – 00:00 Quetzaltenango

Riego por goteo mejora cultivos en los hogares

La hidroponía con pilones ecológicos es una alternativa para la seguridad alimentaria en el país, ya que permite el cultivo de yerbas y hortalizas en hogares, a fin de combatir la desnutrición infantil en todas sus fases, según la Asociación de Acción para el Desarrollo (Asade), fundada en Coatepeque.

POR ÉDGAR GIRóN

El inventor de los pilones ecológicos, Édgar Antonio Becerra, explicó que este sistema consiste en la elaboración de portapilones hechos de papel reciclado, que por medio de la capilaridad permiten humedecer las semillas y desarrollar las plántulas con riego por goteo, donde cada pilón lleva los nutrientes a cada nueva planta.

Agregó que se debe esperar 10 días para el trasplante de las plántulas a las camas de cultivo, un máximo de un mes para ciertas especies de yerbas y vegetales, y 45 días para otros cultivos.

Abel Solís se ha especializado en el montaje y construcción de los sistemas hidropónicos, además del seguimiento agrícola en la siembra y el desarrollo de los cultivos, de la Asade, que tiene como meta hacer llegar esos huertos a las áreas rurales necesitadas, para que produzcan sus propios vegetales frescos, sanos y nutritivos, a fin de contribuir con una dieta balanceada en la alimentación de niños con desnutrición.

(continued)

 

Solar drip irrigation (Atea y Sublevada)

Read at :

http://ateaysublevada.over-blog.es/article-la-tecnica-de-riego-del-goteo-solar-kondenskompressor-99349836.html

La técnica de riego del goteo solar (kondenskompressor)

Fuente: http://www.sitiosolar.com/el%20goteo%20solar.htm

El goteo solar es un sistema de riego muy eficiente, sencillo y económico que puede ayudar a millones de agricultores en el mundo a lograr un aumento de su producción empleando hasta 10 veces menos agua.

Ante el constante crecimiento de la población en el mundo, el agua dulce empieza a ser un recurso cada vez más escaso en nuestro planeta.

Una importante fracción del agua dulce que consume la humanidad se emplea en la irrigación de cultivos, desperdiciándose gran parte de la misma en sistemas de riego poco efectivos. Aunque existen sistemas de riego eficientes, como son los sistemas por goteo convencional, suelen ser costosos por lo que están al alcance de pocos agricultores, sobretodo en paises menos favorecidos económicamente.

(continued)

Thanks to self-help projects backed by NGOs: borehole and other solutions in Kenya (IPS)

Read at :

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106358

KENYA

Walking Metres Rather Than Kilometres to Fetch Water

By Protus Onyango

NAIROBI, Jan 3, 2012 (IPS) – The acute lack of water in Kenya means families have to trek long distances every day to fetch water. In both rural and urban areas, people often walk as far as 30 kilometres or more to collect water from rivers, streams or wells. But thanks to self-help projects backed by NGOs, some communities are coming up with solutions.

Over 80 percent of the country’s population of 40 million has no access to clean water, according to the World Water Organisation.

Those who live in dry northern or eastern regions and parts of the Rift Valley spend days in search of water for domestic use and for their livestock, their economic mainstay. Fighting and quarrels at water points are rampant as women, men, children and animals battle for the little water available. And women who stay out late fetching water risk getting raped.

“Lack of water in Kenya is associated with the high mortality rate among children under five years old, which is primarily due to waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria, and amoebic dysentery. Contamination from human and livestock waste also causes water-related diseases,” Dr. Joram Mwangi at Eldoret’s Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital told IPS.

A majority of Kenyans have to cling to the little they have for cooking, and forego other things like washing. “Bathing and washing are a problem. We go even for three days without having a shower, because water is expensive. In fact, more expensive than food,” Gaudensia Achieng from Kondele village, outside of Kisumu city on the shores of lake Victoria, told IPS.

Ironically, Lake Victoria is the second largest fresh water lake in the world.

(continued)

Sistema de goteo solar – Solar drip irrigation system (Facebook, Pablo Andrès Medina Bastìas / Huerto Urbano)

Read at : Pablo Andrès Medina Bastìas at Facebook-group : DESERTIFICATION FIELD PRACTICES

http://www.facebook.com/groups/273559399327792/

http://unhuertourbano.blogspot.com/2011/12/sistema-de-riego-por-goteo-solar.html

Huerto Urbano

“Si quieres ser feliz toda la vida, cuida un huerto”

Sistema de riego por goteo solar

 

“Gracias a nuestros amigos de Vive lo Verde, en Chile, hemos conocido este original sistema de riego por goteo con funcionamiento “solar”. Gracias a este ingenioso invento, aunque no podemos recuperar las pérdidas por drenaje, sí que eliminamos por completo las pérdidas por evaporación.”

Un problema en cualquier huerto urbano es el riego. Puede que sea por un concepto económico, por tiempo, por horas utilizadas en la labor o porque simplemente no sabemos como utilizar de forma eficiente el agua que tenemos. Si bien en la ciudad no es un bien escaso, si es costoso y las cuentas del agua se van a las nubes si no sabemos regar bien nuestro huerto. Una importante fracción del agua dulce que consume la humanidad se emplea en la irrigación de cultivos, desperdiciándose gran parte de la misma en sistemas de riego poco efectivos (Busquen información sobre el riego por tendido y entenderán a que me refiero). Aunque existen sistemas de riego eficientes, como son los sistemas por goteo convencional, suelen ser costosos por lo que están al alcance de pocos horticultores urbanos, además la idea de ser ecológicos y reciclar la mayor parte de nuestros materiales de desperdicios hacen a esta técnica una muy buena para solucionar ambos predicamentos.

 (continued)

Airdrop irrigation system to transform drought-ridden areas into fertile farmland (inhabitat)

Read at :

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2Zi1pi/inhabitat.com/airdrop-irrigation-system-wins-2011-james-dyson-award-top-prize/

Airdrop Irrigation System Wins 2011 James Dyson Award Top Prize

by Brit Liggett,

The 2011 James Dyson Award has just been handed to Edward Linacre of Melbourne, Australia for his Airdrop irrigation system — a device capable of transforming drought-ridden areas into fertile farmland. The Airdrop is modeled after the Namib Desert beetle, which is able to live in the driest of conditions by capturing and collecting small amounts of water from the air. Linacre’s irrigation systemharvests tiny amounts of moisture from even the driest climate and then pushes the moisture through a network of piping that condenses it and funnels it directly to the roots of crops. Linacre’s winning design netted him a prize of about $16,000, which he’ll use for testing.

Read more: Airdrop Irrigation System Wins 2011 James Dyson Award Top Prize | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World

Simple and ready-to-use packaged kits : bucket kit, drum kit, Easy drip and Customized kit (African technology Development Forum)

Read at :

http://www.atdforum.org/spip.php?article450

Affordable Drip Irrigation Technology

By Webmaster

International Development Enterprise India (IDEI)’s Drip irrigation programme started in 1997 to address the irrigation problems of small and marginal farm families living in water scarce regions of India. Drip irrigation is a water-saving technology which enables slow and regular application of water directly to the roots of the plants through a network of economically designed plastic pipes and low discharge emitters. It maximizes crop productivity through increase in the crop yield and also the area for cultivation, and protect the environment through conserving soil, water and fertilizer resources, and thus increasing the farmer income.

Though Drip Irrigation as a water-saving technology, comprising drip and sprinkler irrigation, existed in India and elsewhere for over fifteen years, it was not appropriate and affordable for small and marginal farm families. Hence the key task of IDEI during 1997-2000 period was to adapt this technology to suit the needs of poor farm families and, more importantly, to make the technology affordable.

Conventional technologies have a high capital cost, high tech in nature making it complicated to install and maintain. Further there is a severe lack of efficient market supply chain in rural areas to develop, manufacture, install and maintain micro irrigation systems appropriate to India’s small and marginal farmers.

IDEI has suitably adapted this technology to meet the needs of poor farm families by making the technology simpler and affordable.

(continued)

===========================

Morocco has woken up to its water problems with drip irrigation (FAO / EMWIS/SEMIDE)

VIDEO seen at : http://youtu.be/vT4AdtY4GKQ

http://www.emwis.net/thematicdirs/news/2011/08/morocco-s-solution-water-scarcity-la-solution-du-maroc-la-penurie-d-eau

Morocco’s solution to water scarcity – La solution du Maroc à la pénurie d’eau

Water is getting scarce. Agriculture is the number one user of water worldwide. If dry areas of the world aren’t careful, their agriculture will soon be in big trouble. Morocco is a good example of a country that has woken up to its water problems.

– Morocco’s solution to water scarcity (video in English)
– La solution du Maroc à la pénurie d’eau (video in French)
– Ahorrar el agua — agricultura victoriosa (video en Espagnol)

File link    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT4AdtY4GKQ
Source of information    FAO

Subject(s)     AGRICULTURE , HYDRAULICS – HYDROLOGY , INFRASTRUCTURES , MEASUREMENTS AND INSTRUMENTATION , METHTODOLOGY – STATISTICS – DECISION AID , NATURAL MEDIUM , POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT , RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY , WATER DEMAND

Relation    http://www.emwis.net/thematicdirs/video-gallery/morocco-s-solution-to-water-scarcity

Benefits of drip irrigation for Malawian farmers (Eldis)

Read at :

http://www.eldis.org/go/display&type=Document&id=58553?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eldis-agriculture+%28Eldis+Agriculture%29

Evaluation of the performance of the bucket drip irrigation (family drip system) fed by treadle pump for tomato production

Authors: I. Fandika; Department of Agricultural Research Services
Publisher: [publisher information not available], 2007

An evaluation of the performance of the Drip Irrigation (Family Drip System) fed by Treadle Pump was conducted at Kasinthula Research Station, Malawi, in 2005/2006. The purpose was to develop baseline information on the operation of drip irrigation, establish drip irrigation system testing and demonstrating on the design, installation and management of drip kits, determine water use efficiency and yield response of tomatoes to drip irrigation within and between seasons.

The study shows that:

(continued)

======================