Irrigation Systems

Hello everyone, welcome to my blog. I am glad to participate in this amazing contest "Irrigation Systems" by @muhammad-ahmad. Irrigation is an important activity done by farmers to their crops in order to foster the plant growth during dry season.

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Why is irrigation necessary for agriculture

Crops needs water for their growth and development. Insufficient rainfall affects agricultural products. Irrigation helps to increase the crop productivity even when their is no rainfall. Some parts in Nigeria have not seen rain for the past one month, some farmers in those area with the help of irrigation do their farm work irrespective of the dry season while others waits for rainfall before they can start their farm work.

Crops that are planted within this period of dry season without irrigation withers quickly and die because of the dry land. Irrigation help farmers to soften the land so that the plant will be getting enough nutrient from the soil.

The good thing about this irrigation is that they will not lack food and those farmers that irrigates their crops makes a lot of money because before the rain falls, their product is already in the market and they can still plant that particular crop again together with other people that was waiting for rainfall.

Explain how rainwater harvesting can supplement irrigation.

Rainwater harvesting is the process of storing rainwater during the rainy season with the aim of making it available when and where there is scarcity of water. By doing this, it help farmers to save money they were supposed to spend on buying water. During dry season, the stored rainwater will be used to provide steady water supply to the crops.

Compare drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation.

Drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation are two ways by which we can supply enough water to our crops.
• In drip irrigation, we make use of dripping valves to water the crops while in sprinkler irrigation, we make use of nozzles and spray guns.

• Using the drip irrigation system, you can only water the root part of the crop while in sprinkler irrigation, you water the crops from the top to the down side and it can cover a larger area than drip irrigation.

• Drip irrigation does not waste water because it waters the targeted areas needed for the crop which is the root zone of the plants but the disadvantage is that it does not cover a large area. On the other hand, sprinkler irrigation waste a lot of water before it gets to that targeted area but the good side is that it covers a wide range.

I am inviting @jaaga, @suboohi and @dekki to participate in this context.