International Journal of Irrigation and Water Management

International Journal of Irrigation and Water Management ISSN 5423-5294 Vol. 5 (12), pp. 001-010, December, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Overview of smallholder irrigation schemes in South Africa: Relationship between farmer crop management practices and performance

M. Fanadzo, C. Chiduza* and P. N. S. Mnkeni

Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa.

Accepted 11 April, 2018

Abstract

Irrigated agriculture accounts for almost 30% of total crop production and is the single largest user of water in South Africa. The country is water-scarce, and, although water consumption through irrigation has decreased from 80 to about 50% over the past 25 years, the need to improve water use efficiency in irrigation farming is more imperative than ever. Generally, smallholder irrigation schemes (SIS) in South Africa have performed poorly and have not delivered on their development objectives of increasing crop production and improving rural livelihoods. The poor performance of many SIS in terms of productivity and economic impact has been largely attributed to socio-economic, political, climatic, edaphic and design factors, as well as lack of farmer participation. Research and expenditure has tended to concentrate on rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure, but evidence indicate low yield levels and limited knowledge of crop production among farmers as probably the main reasons for the failure of many SIS in South Africa. The tendency to focus on infrastructure has often yielded little and proved to be fruitless because the human capital was not developed to effectively utilise and maintain the infrastructure. This indicates that farmer practice may actually be constraining performance in spite of the state of irrigation infrastructure. It is therefore recommended that crop production approaches including farmer training be considered alongside all other issues during revitalisation of SIS to improve on performance.

Key words: Smallholder irrigation schemes, performance, cropping systems, farmer management practices, revitalisation.

International Journal of Irrigation and Water Management ISSN 5423-5294 Vol. 5 (11), pp. 001-011, November, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Need of benchmarking for socially and environmentally sustainable development of a major irrigation scheme

Sanjay Sitaram Phadnis¹* and Mukul Kulshrestha²

¹Research Scholar, MANIT-Bhopal, and Executive Engineer, MP, Water Resources Department, Bhopal, India.

²Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, MANIT Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Accepted 09 July, 2018

Abstract

It is a proven fact that the quantity and quality of available water resources have been recognized as limiting factors in development of most of the arid and semi arid regions. The function of the conveyance and distribution systems and services should be providing sufficient water in a timely manner so that it can be used efficiently for crop production. Reliability, flexibility and efficiency are the keywords for a modernization plan. Optimal use of available surface and groundwater, in any canal command area would result in their better utilization by maximizing the benefits from the crop production and the environmentally sustainable development and management of water resources in an integrated and participatory approach. Irrigation sector is the highest water consumer; therefore it is a sector where performance assessment is necessary to ensure optimum utilization of water. The major system deficiencies are low canal carrying capacity, over utilizations of water in rabi irrigation, flooding irrigation practices, low yield per unit irrigated area, low cost recovery in the Samrat Ashok Sagar irrigation project. This paper presents a need of benchmarking of major irrigation projects for socially and environmentally sustainable development in India based on integrated and participatory approach.

Key words: Benchmarking, participatory approach, environmentally sustainable development, water management.

International Journal of Irrigation and Water Management ISSN 5423-5294 Vol. 5 (10), pp. 001-009, October, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Comparative study of subsurface drip irrigation and flood irrigation systems for quality and yield of sugarcane

Khalid Hussain¹*, Abdul Majeed¹_, Khalid Nawaz¹, Shahid Afghan², Kazim Ali², Feng Lin³, Zafarullah Zafar⁴, and Ghulam Raza⁵

^1*Department of Botany, University of Gujrat, Gujrat-Pakistan.

²Shakarganj Sugar Research Institute (SSRI), Jhang-Pakistan.

³Shenyang Agricultural University, China.

⁴Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan-Pakistan.

⁵Nuclear Institute of Agriculture (NIA) Tandojam (Sindh)-Pakistan.

Accepted 06 March, 2018

Abstract

Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) is a most advanced method of irrigation that facilitates the irrigation of crop / plants with small amounts of water through the T- tapes placed below the soil surface. Depth of T-tape and requirement of water depends upon soil type and crop under observations. Experiments for comparative study of SDI with flood irrigation for yield and quality were conducted on sugarcane crop from 2005 - 2008 with 3-varieties i.e. HSF-240, HS- 12 and CSSG-668 on an area of 6 ha. Drip tapes were buried manually in the middle of the ridges on an area of 3 ha with subplot size for each variety of 1 ha compared with flood irrigated crop of 3 ha with subplot of 1 ha for each variety. Flood irrigation system showed better results for growth, yield and quality of sugarcane than SDI. Germination % and tillers/plant did not show any significant difference under both irrigation systems. SDI resulted to lower mill- able cane, cane yield, crop growth rate (CGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR). Harvest index % (HI) had no significant effect on both irrigation systems. Higher leaf relative water contents (LRWC) obtained under flood irrigation showed higher accumulation of water supplied through flood system. Similarly, quality attributes (juice extraction, purity %, recovery % cane and sugar yield t/ha) showed superior behavior under flood irrigation than SDI. Flood irrigation system provided net benefits ranging from Rs. 56130 – Rs. 82760 / ha while SDI resulted in loss from Rs. 127345 to 157910 / ha. Maximum income benefit was recorded in CSSG-668 variety (Rs. 82760 / ha) and maximum loss in HSF-240 variety (Rs. 157910 / ha) under SDI. SDI helped to save water from 11 - 18% over flood irrigation system that had no significant contribution in net benefits. This loss may be due to the major problems faced by SDI system that led to blockage, damaged of T-tapes, filtration obstructions due to high ferrous contents in irrigated water, higher initial cost, management, that resulted to net economic loss in sugarcane. Irrigated water was unfit with high ferrous contents that resulted to blockage of T -tapes. SDI saved 18% water as compared to flood irrigation system. It was concluded that SDI is not a superior system of irrigation for sugarcane in developing countries like Pakistan where water is unfit for irrigation. Its high installation cost, breakage and clogging resulted to net economic loss. SDI might be a superior system where water is fit for irrigation, free of ferrous and low installation costs.

Key words: SDI, flood irrigation, sugarcane, yield, quality.

International Journal of Irrigation and Water Management ISSN 5423-5294 Vol. 5 (9), pp. 001-013, September, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The use of the purple non sulfur bacterium isolate P1 and fermented pineapple extract to treat latex rubber sheet wastewater for possible use as irrigation water

Duangporn Kantachote^1,3*, Nastee Kornochalert¹ and Sumate Chaiprapat^2,3

¹Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai 90112, Thailand.

²Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai 90112, Thailand.

³National Center of Excellence for Environmental and Hazardous Waste Management-Satellite Center at Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai 90112, Thailand.

Accepted 22 March, 2018

Abstract

A central composite design using two variables (concentrations of isolate P1 and Fermented Pineapple Extract (FPE) each at three levels was used to study their effects on the treatment efficiency of latex rubber sheet wastewater under microaerobic-light conditions. The optimum combination over a 72 h period consisted of 3% P1 and 0.13% FPE and resulted in the removal of 80% Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), 82% Suspended Solids (SS) and 85% Un-ionized Hydrogen Sulfide: H₂S in wastewater (UHS). The selected experimental condition was then verified by varying the retention times. A 96 h retention time gave the highest treatment efficiency with a 92% reduction of COD, 87% SS and 83% UHS and the effluent met both standards for industrial effluent discharge and crop irrigation. This effluent in its undiluted and diluted between 1: 25-1: 200 showed no phytotoxicity and also stimulated rice seed germination based on a germination index when compared with distilled water. Addition of 3% P1 into the raw wastewater either alone or in combination with 0.13% FPE yielded an effluent that passed the standard guidelines within 72 h, while with FPE alone a 96 h retention time was required. Based on morphological, physiological and biochemical properties, the isolate P1 was identified as Rhodopseudomonas palustris.

Key words: Fermented plant extracts, hydrogen sulfide, latex rubber wastewater, purple nonsulfur bacteria, response surface method, wastewater treatment.

International Journal of Irrigation and Water Management ISSN 5423-5294 Vol. 5 (9), pp. 001-017, September, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Evaluation of irrigation and drainage systems of (Southeastern Anatolia Project) GAP, the Turkey’s largest integrated water resource development projec

Kasim Yenigun* and Mustafa Hakki Aydogdu

Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Harran University, Osmanbey Campus,  anliurfa, Turkey.

Accepted 08 March, 2018

Abstract

The Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), the Turkey’s largest integrated water resource project, is among the world’s most important regional development projects in terms of numeric size and influence. In the present study, irrigation systems and drainage requirements within the scope of GAP in the Euphrates and Tigris Basins are investigated. With the data collected, an attempt was made to determine the potential operational problems in terms of present requirements by investigating water resources, irrigation systems, and water distribution methods, efficient use of water control structures, valves, and water, and drainage requirements and systems based on field observations. In order to solve these problems and ensure that similar problems are not experienced in future projects, recommendations related to needs are made on subjects such as management and operation models that will achieve optimum use of resources, institutional and legal contents, social and cultural behaviors, environmental interaction potential, and economic requirements. A summary of wide-ranging research carried out in the study area, problems and recommendations are presented together.

Key words: GAP region, water resources, irrigation systems, drainage.

International Journal of Irrigation and Water Management ISSN 5423-5294 Vol. 5 (8), pp. 001-006, August, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Marginal effects of rural roads and irrigation canals on woody and non-woody species composition

Aidin Parsakhoo

Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, P. O. Box 737, Mazandaran province, Iran. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +98 152 4222984-5. Fax: +98 152 4222982.

Accepted 06 February, 2018

Abstract

Across the northern rural regions of Iran, gardens and farmlands are being fragmented into smaller and smaller patches by rural roads network with significant edge effects on plant species composition and abundance. In this study, the presence of different plant species was recorded in ninety 1 ´ 1 m plots on nine 100 m transects at the edge of terrene rural roads with irrigation canal and without irrigation canal. Thirty seven plant species were identified in the 9 transects surveyed. Twenty six (70.3%) of those species occurred near the irrigation canal (Transects 2 and 3). Rubus hyrcanus Juz (more than 80% in visually) were observed on transect 3 of the roadside with irrigation canal because of the availability of light and high soil moisture. Ulmus carpinifolia Borkh., Quercus castaneifolia C. A. Mey., Pterocarya fraxinifolia (Lam.) Spach., Parrotia persica C.A.M., Zelkova carpinifolia (pall.) Dipp. and Albizia julibrissin (Willd) Benth were the unique species that were found close to the irrigation canal especially on transect. These species are the final survivors of Hyrcanian forests in rural area that were protected from human damages. Plant species richness at the edge of rural road with irrigation canal (37 species) was more than the edge of rural road without irrigation canal (17 species), but the cover value was similar to each other Punica granatum L. was the most frequent species (more than 80%) on both side of rural road (transect 2 and 3) without irrigation canal.

Key words: Edge, Iran, irrigation canal, plant composition, rural road.