Surface irrigation against modern irrigation

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Surface irrigation is used in about 85% of irrigated areas in the middle east countries. Most of it has been established long time ago when surface irrigation was the main prevailing irrigation method, while some schemes have been established more recently because of its low cost compared to other modern irrigation systems.

Low water use efficiency is one of the main features of surface irrigation. It was estimated in previous AOAD's studies that total annual water losses by surface irrigation in the Arab countries amount to about 91 billion cubic meters. For these reasons, the general trend in Arab countries is towards modern irrigation systems. But there are financial, social and technical problems in converting all existing surface irrigation to the modern irrigation systems, due to its large extent and due to the farmers limited financial and technical ability to deal with these modern systems.

It is obvious that the best option is the promotion and modernization of these traditional surface irrigation and drainage systems.

3 Answers

  1. I have designed, surface irrigation including soil surveys, concrete ditches,land leveling and maximized efficiency , including sub surface drainage to remove salts added by the irrigation water. Replaced some of the above by sprinkler irrigation. I also designed trickle tube irrigation for high income crops.In most cases the changes were made to reduce the water needed, more efficient control of water.

    In the future we will need to reduce the amount of water per hectare/acre/dunam. The need will increase as the population grows. Plan now for tomorrow !

    Every country should begin now to design desalinization projects and start building in order to be able to expand in time, as the present supply will be available for fewer uses.

  2. thanks Richard Vattay, i went through the web site , it looks as promissory product no information about the composition of the product and how much is the saved amount of water?

  3. One of the biggest problem of agriculture is how to save water/humidity in the soil. We fill up the soil with water than it goes away though the evaporation. I suggest our new product to save or keep the humidity in the soil. We just received that Water Retainer can be used in organic farming. Further information: www.waterandsoil.eu