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As effect of the dry season begins to take its toll on cultivated farmlands across the country, farmers have been urged to embrace drip irrigation method as a way out of the challenge and deliver better crop yield.
“Undoubtedly one of the most critical issues at the onset of the dry season beside insects and pests is the question of irrigation. And it is the same headache with every farmer at this period of the year whether large, medium or the small holder farmer. I believe drip irrigation provides the best solution to this problem,” Oscar Walumbe, integrated country project manager, Dizengoff Nigeria said on sidelines of the recent farmers’ summit held in Abuja.
“Drip irrigation offers the most cost effective and efficient irrigation method that can be adapted by farmers across the country whether large, medium or small holders, to address the perennial problem associated with dry season farming. It is one sure method if well managed that guarantees all year round farming to enable increased crop production as well as deliver better crop yield” Walumbe said.
He posited that the method holds the proverbial magic key as “the most efficient and cost effective method capable of ensuring better crop yields for the Nigerian farmer.”
The drip method allows water to drip and drop from pipes running through the farm. The process helps to conserve water and properly pass moisture to soil and thereby boost yield. It also makes even distribution of fertilizers to crops possible through the process of fertigation.
Underlining the advantages of the drip irrigation system propagated by Dizengoff, Walumbe disclosed that beside its simplicity in terms of installation, “it is gravity operated with heavy duty drippers with wide water passages to prevent clogging.
“It uses water in the most efficient way, it is flexible and suitable to adapt to different water sources. It is equally adaptable to any soil and weather conditions, just as it enables fertigation – that is the process by which fertilizers are applied through the irrigation system.
Walumbe who drew attention to the increasing devastating impact of changes in the weather predicted more difficulties in the environment and urged farmers to move away from dependence on rain fed agriculture and embrace irrigation farming, as the way out the challenges ahead.
“Changes in the weather are increasingly making it difficult to plan farming tasks with any certainty, and this on its own has huge impact on production. I would expect that farmers will take that decision to embrace the irrigation method, in this instance the drip system which is cost effective and actually more efficient farming method,” he added.
Josephine Okojie
