Kenya Agricultural and Livestock

Research Organization

SUGAR RESEARCH INSTITUTE

IRRIGATION TYPES AND METHODS

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 Introduction
Kenya has an area of 582,646km square
97.8% of this is land and 2.2% is water surface
20% 0f the land is classified as medium to high
rainfall areas and the rest is arid and semi arid
(ASAL)
75% of popn live within the medium to high
rainfall areas
To absorb the ever increasing population, the
agricultural potential for ASALs must be enhanced
thro’ agricultural water harvesting and storage
for irrigation
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 Rain fed agriculture not able to satisfy our
food requirements
 Need to shift focus to expanding irrigated
agriculture for food security, create wealth
and employment opportunities.
 The terrain and soils of most areas impedes
the free flow of water causing waterlogged
situations.
 This impacts negatively to animal and crop
production. These situations can be addressed
by having irrigation and drainage in respective
areas.

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  Irrigated agriculture increases production
up to four fold and income to about ten
times.
 The country has an irrigation and drainage
potential of 1.2m ha & 600,000 ha out of
which 161,180 ha & 30,000 ha have been
exploited respectively (watermaster plan
2012).

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 Irrigation
Artificial application of water to soil or
crops.
 Done due to poor distribution or
inadequate rains which fall short of the
crop- soil- water requirement.
 Various crops have different soil water
requirements and hence the need to
know these parameters before
embarking on irrigating the crops.
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 When should irrigation take place?
Look at the soil or crops.
The soil lacks enough moisture and the crops
wilt.
Check on the amount of rainfall received.
Various crops have different annual rainfall
requirements.
 Check the rooting zone of the crops to know
when to irrigate. Crops that have shallow rooting
zones require frequent irrigation as moisture
availability is scarce.
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 Factors To Consider When Designing For Irrigation
System
 Crop water requirement
 Area of field to be irrigated
 Availability of irrigation water.
 Quality of irrigation water.
 Soil type in the area to be irrigated.
 Topography of the area to be irrigated.
 Capital.

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 Choice of irrigation method
 There is probably no ideal or universally
‘best’ irrigation system.
 The choice of system is influenced by
many factors including soil type, labor
availability, capital cost, terrain and
power availability. Each system has its
own advantages and disadvantages in
relation to the particular site
circumstances
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 Methods of Irrigation.
There is a large range of irrigation systems
available to growers.
A. Low pressure systems:
surface irrigation

i) Basin irrigation
Basin irrigation for sugarcane is mostly found
on smallholder schemes.
The main requirement for basins is level land
and, in areas suitable for gravity irrigation,
basins are capable of high distribution
uniformity and efficiency levels.
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 ii) Furrow irrigation.
With a furrow system, water is typically
diverted into canals at the head of the
irrigation land and is discharged into the
furrow through siphons

Topography is critical for furrow irrigation,

with flatter lands with gentle gradients being
ideal and steep or broken terrain being
excluded.

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 Disadvantages
 Relatively labor intensive, except where
automated
 Requires a high level of land shaping in most
situations
 Not suited to light soils
 Requires high system capacity (including
balancing dams) as night irrigation is seldom
employed
 Efficiencies can be low, with losses to runoff and
deep percolation
 Not suited to precision fertigation
 Furrow irrigation is usually limited to daylight
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operation only, because of poor visibility after
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dark
 The merits of furrow irrigation
 Relatively inexpensive to operate.
 Very low energy costs, increasingly
important as energy costs rise.
 The soil surface is only partially wetted
(less evaporation and weeds).
 The system is relatively simple, having few
mechanical parts.
 Once the land has been shaped, requires
minimal annual maintenance.

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 Typical furrow irrigated field using siphons
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 Labor intensive furrow irrigation

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 Medium pressure systems:

Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation – classified into two i.e.
 surface and
 sub-surface systems

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 Drip irrigation
 Drip irrigation, also known as trickle
irrigation or micro irrigation or localized
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, tubing, and
emitters. It is done through narrow tubes
that deliver water directly to the base of
the plant.
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  Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) uses
permanently or temporarily buried
dripper line or drip tape located at or
below the plant roots. It is becoming
popular for row crop irrigation,
especially in areas where water supplies
are limited or recycled water is used for
irrigation.

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 Installing drip lines at Opapo
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 Installation of the dripline sub mains
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 Drip irrigation divided into two halves
1. Head works portion
 Water source
 Pumps
 filters
 Chemical injection equipment
 Controls

2. Field portion
 Transmission
 Emission devices
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  Drip systems often mix liquid fertilizer
with the irrigation water. This is called
fertigation; fertigation and chemigation
(application of pesticides and other
chemicals to periodically clean out the
system, such as chlorine or sulfuric acid)
use chemical injectors such as diaphragm
pumps, piston pumps, or aspirators. The
chemicals may be added constantly
whenever the system is irrigating or at
intervals.

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  Properly designed, installed, and managed, drip
irrigation may help achieve water conservation
by reducing evaporation and deep drainage
when compared to other types of irrigation such
as flood or overhead sprinklers since water can
be more precisely applied to the plant roots.
 In addition, drip can eliminate many diseases
that are spread through water contact with the
foliage. In very arid regions or on sandy soils,
the preferred method is to apply the irrigation
water as slowly as possible.

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  Drip irrigation is used by farms,
commercial greenhouses, and residential
gardeners.
 Drip irrigation is adopted extensively in
areas of acute water scarcity and
especially for crops such as coconuts,
bananas, citrus, sugarcane, cotton, maize,
and tomatoes.


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  Other information
• Drip discharge 2 litres/ hr for most soils &
4l/hr for sandy soils
• Install emitters at least 45 cm (18’’) apart.
If soils are very permissible install
emitters at 30 cm to 45cm apart.
• Use 2cm (3/4’’) valve.

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 Laying of subsurface dripper lines using a two row application system at
Mhlume sugar estate, Swaziland
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 Drip filter station
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 Merits of drip irrigation (SDI):
• Can be fully automated.
• Capable of very high efficiency levels.
• Minimum surface evaporation.
• 24-hour irrigation application time is possible.
• Not affected by wind.
• Not limited by topography − with pressure
regulated drippers.
• Relatively low pressure requirement.
• Weed infestation is minimized.
• Minimal or no runoff losses.
• Low labor requirement.
• Suited to fertigation.

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  All drip irrigation faces the hazard of
blockage, owing to the fine passages
in the emitters. This necessitates the
need for filtration of the irrigation
water. Well designed filtration is
critical and back-flushing must be
timed so as to clear accumulated
particulates before filter
performance is affected.

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 C. High pressure manually moved systems:
 1. Impact sprinklers
 All manually moved systems are characterized by
the use of small to medium sized impact
sprinklers attached to sprinkler assemblies (3 m
risers mounted on a portable tripod) and
connected to a pressurized pipe system. Portable
6-9 m long aluminum and light steel pipes (50-75
mm diameter) with short hydrants have been the
most common infield lateral distribution network,
but are now largely superseded by buried plastic
pipes with above ground hydrants.
 In all cases the spacing between sprinkler
operating positions –in sugarcane being 18 x 18 m.
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 Solid-set sprinkler system
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 The sprinkler system consists of :-
• The pumping plant(motors & pumps)
• The main delivery line
• The sub mains
• The laterals distribution pipes from the
hydrants
• The riser pipes
 The sprinklers.
 Pumps used are of centrifugal type and are
of small discharge with high heads. (The
ones of large discharge with low heads are
used for drainage).


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 Other information
• Sprinkler discharge 1 litre/sec,
• Main pump discharge 40 L/sec.
• No. of sprinklers per hectare— 40
• Sprinkler wetted diameter- 18m in
diameter

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 Disadvantages:
• Relatively high energy requirement).
• High capital cost.
• Cultivation practices are restricted.
• Land is lost due to the permanent infield
pipes and sprinklers
• Breakage of sprinkler heads and risers
• Wind distortions reducing efficiences.
• Blockage of nozzles by soil particles
• High labour requirement in moving the set.
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 Advantages of impact sprinklers
 Suitable on rolling topography.

System maintenance
 Considerable wastage of water can occur in
poorly maintained irrigation schemes. Leakages in
 pipelines, canals, storage reservoirs, etc. can be
significant. Worn sprinkler nozzles are an
important cause of low efficiency. Wearing causes
an enlargement of the orifice. A 10% enlargement
of the orifice will result in an increase of about 20
% in discharge, a 20 % increase in power
consumption and possible over-watering.

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 Benefits of irrigation
 Irrigated crops mature faster than rain fed
crops. (Sugarcane matures at least 3
months earlier when irrigated) and the
yields are higher.

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