FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION

AND IRRIGATION ENGINEERING

DESIGN OF A SPRINKLER IRRIGATION

SYSTEM FOR SUN FLOWER IN MALAWA-A
VILLAGE
BY
BUWEMBO MIKE
BU/UG/2009/1

SUPERVISORS
1. MR. MUYINGO EMMANUEL
2. Ms. NAKABUYE HOPE NJUKI
 Background
 Agriculture is the source of employment for 70 percent of the
people. The productivity, profitability, and continued expansion of
the agriculture sector are critical to the well-being of millions of
Ugandan house-holds.

 To achieve this, the government has advocated for irrigation and

high value crops such as sunflower from which substance farmers
can start benefiting financially.
 For generations, Ugandan farmers have relied on rainfall to water
the land, The climate is changing and droughts are becoming more
frequent which makes irrigation vital in agriculture.
 From research Uganda has suffered at least eight serious droughts
in the last 40 years (Richard M. Kavuma, 2010)
 Sprinkler irrigation is a method of applying irrigation water which
is distributed by pipes by pumping and irrigate entire soil surface
through spray heads
 Problem statement
Tororo district is gifted with River Malaba which is
not fully utilized. Despite the available resources
which include good soils and water that favour
sunflower growing, growers of sunflower are
affected by poor yields due to crop water deficiency
which results from unreliable rain fall.
There is lack of cultivation of the crop during the
dry season. Proper utilization of the River by getting
off some water for irrigation can boost production
and improve on yields.
The project intends to design a system that can
adequately supply water to sunflower throughout the
growing season.
 Justification

 Irrigationbasically enables adequate supply of water to

crops throughout the growing season which maximizes
production.

 Sufficient utilization of River Malaba by growing sun

flower under irrigation will boost farmers’ income and
government’s revenue due to increased production
which will enable exports. This will improve the
standards of living for small hold farmers.
 Objectives
Main Objective
To design a sprinkler irrigation system for sun flowers
growing in Malawa-A village, Magala sub
county,Tororo district near River Malaba

Specific Objectives
 To determine the irrigation water requirement of sun
flower.
 To study the topography, nature of the soil, water
quality and the climate of the project area in Malawa
village.
 Designing of system components.
 Selecting the pump and power unit.
Scope of the study

• The study encompasses design of a

sprinkler irrigation system for sunflower
growing.
• It involves analysis of the topography,
climate, soil conditions, crop and water
quality
• Costing of the project
 Methodology
A double ring inflitrometer was used to measure the
infiltration rate of the soil in order to determine the
basic infiltration rate which was essential in
determining the optimum precipitation of sprinklers.
 A Global Positioning System(GPS) and tape measure
were used to survey the site to determine the elevations,
northings and eastings at grids 20 m apart.
 The survey data obtained was fed into a computer to
produce a topographical map of the site using
Geographical Information Sytem (GIS) software.
 The designer used the topographical map to determine
the slope of the site
 Soil and water samples were collected from the site and
river respectively and taken to laboratories for testing.
 Data Collection Techniques
◦ Carrying out area topographical survey , A topographic survey of
the area was carried out to measure the elevation of various
pointsand establish contours of the area.
◦ Interviews, The community farmers and leaders of Malawa village
were orally interviewed on various apects of the crop, river and
climate of the region
◦ Laboratory tests, Water and soil tests were done to determine the
water quality, soil texture, salinity and solidity and different soil
compositions.
◦ Taking area photographs, Area photographs were taken to keep on
visually analysing the project area even when I was away from it.
◦ Climatic data collection, The climatic data of the past 20 year
collected from a nearby weather station in Tororo district was
obtained.
◦ Desk studyInternet, library text books and class notes were sources
of the fundamental data which was a basis of the design.
 Data Analysis
 The collected data was analysed with the aid of computer
soft wares which include; CROPWAT 8.0, CLIMWAT 2.0,
MATLAB, GIS and Excell.
 CROPWAT 8.0 and CLIWAT 2.0 were used to obtain the
evapotranspiration (ETO) of sun flower which was used as
a reference.
 MATLAB was used in cases where data analysis required
drawing graphs.
 Excelwas used to was used to calculate ETo and produce
graphs.
 Thesurvey data was analyzed using GIS software. By
doing this, the designer was able to describe the
topography of the site in terms of rise and fall.
 DATA PRESENTATION ANALYSIS AND
DESIGN
TOPOGRAPHIC RESULT ANALYSIS
 THE GRAPH SHOWING RAIN FALL CONSISTENCY
The single mass curve method was used to determine the consistence of
the rain fall data for 32 years (1980-2011)
70000.0

60000.0
CUMMULATIVE ANNUAL RAIN FALL/mm

50000.0

40000.0

30000.0

20000.0

10000.0

0.0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

YEARS
CALCULATION OF CROP EVAPOTRANSIPIRATION (ETo)

ETo/
D dr d ws Ra N/ hrs n/hrs Rs Rso Rnl Rn Gmonth
(mm/day)

0.18 1.03 -0.37 1.57 35.90 11.96 6.69 19.01 27.77 6.46 8.2 0.09 4.79
0.18 1.02 -0.23 1.57 37.26 11.98 7.46 20.92 28.82 6.87 9.2 0.02 5.43
0.18 1.01 -0.04 1.57 37.87 12.00 6.55 19.81 29.29 6.63 8.6 -0.06 5.06
0.18 0.99 0.17 1.57 36.84 12.02 7.67 20.97 28.49 7.45 8.7 -0.07 4.59
0.17 0.98 0.34 1.57 34.90 12.03 6.77 18.54 26.99 6.81 7.5 -0.08 4.08
0.17 0.97 0.41 1.58 33.68 12.04 7.25 18.56 26.05 6.89 7.4 -0.06 3.84
0.16 0.97 0.37 1.58 34.17 12.04 6.53 17.81 26.43 6.40 7.3 0.00 3.82
0.17 0.98 0.23 1.57 35.87 12.02 5.49 17.16 27.74 5.88 7.3 0.04 3.95
0.17 0.99 0.04 1.57 37.27 12.00 6.19 18.93 28.83 6.28 8.3 0.05 4.31
0.17 1.01 -0.17 1.57 37.23 11.98 7.00 20.18 28.79 6.80 8.7 0.00 4.59
0.17 1.02 -0.34 1.57 36.10 11.97 7.91 20.95 27.92 7.16 9.0 0.00 4.62
0.17 1.03 -0.41 1.57 35.33 11.96 7.46 19.85 27.32 6.71 8.6 -1.62 5.23
4.53
 ADJUSTING Kc VALUES AND CALCULATION OF
CROP WATER REQUIREMENT (ETc)

FIRST SEASON Planting date 1st March

MONTH DECADES SEASON Kc Kc(adj) ETo(mm/day) ETc(mm/day) ETc(mm/day) ETc(mm/month)
MARCH 10 Initial 0.35 0.35 5.06 1.77 1.99 61.69
10 Initial 0.35 0.35 5.06 1.77
11 Initial/Dev 0.48 0.48 5.06 2.43
APRIL 10 Dev 0.68 0.68 4.59 3.12 5.66 169.8
10 Dev 0.89 0.89 4.59 4.09
10 Dev/Mid 1.08 2.13 4.59 9.78
MAY 10 Mid 1.08 2.13 4.08 8.69 8.69 269.39
10 Mid 1.08 2.13 4.08 8.69
11 Mid 1.08 2.13 4.08 8.69
JUNE 10 Mid 1.08 2.13 3.84 8.18 7.28 218.4
10 Mid/End 0.88 1.93 3.84 7.41
10 End 0.58 1.63 3.84 6.26
JULY 8 End 0.35 1.40 3.82 5.35 5.35 42.8
 IRRIGATION WATER REQUIREMENT

MONTH ETc(mm/month) PE(mm/month) IR(mm/month)

JAN 53.84 34 19.84
FEB 0 36.66 0
MAR 61.69 88.66 0
APR 169.8 143.88 25.92
MAY 269.39 141.72 127.67
JUN 218.4 47.86 170.54
JUL 42.8 45.74 0
AUG 0 68.09 0
SEP 49.5 64.91 0
OCT 173.91 101.75 72.16
NOV 295.8 92.33 203.47
DEC 309.38 39.31 270.07
SOIL INFLITRATION RATE
The basic infiltration rate according to the graph was 7.5mm/hr.

A GRAPH OF INFILITRATION AGAINS INTAKE OPPORTUNITY TIME

 SYSTEM CAPACITY, DESIGN OF LATERALS,
MAIN LINE AND PUMP SELECTION
Details hyperlinked
System capacity 7.12 l/s

Lateral size 75 mm

Main line size 90 mm

Total Dynamic Head (TDH) 38.87 m

Net positive Suction Head (NPSH) 4.312 m

Water Horse Power (WHP) 2.713 KW

Brake Horse Power(BHP) 3.391 KW

Pump power requirement 66.59 KW

 RECOMMENDATIONS

• The farmer has to make use of fertilizers such

as NPK or organic manures like farmyard
manure or compost manure.
• Due to the steep slope between the river and
the area to be irrigated, a drainage canal
should be constructed between the area and
the river to prevent direct back flow which can
pollute the river
 COST OF THE PROJECT
No COMPONENT QUANTITY UNIT COST TOTAL COST
(Shs) (Shs)
1 Brass non return valve 1 34,500 34,500
2 Sprinkle 5 180 900
3 Screen 1 600000  60000 
4 900 Elbow 1 20000 20,000
5 75 mm lateral HDPE pipe 100 m 14,100 1410000
6 Risers  5  20000  100000
7 Globe valves 1 61000 61000
8 90 mm main PVC pipe  170m  10000  1700000
9 Pump 1 30000000 3000000
10 End cap 1 55900 55,900
TOTAL 6883300