This archive report was first published on 9 July 2020.
Kenya's water scarcity is a pressing issue, with the country's renewable water resource per capita standing at below 1,000 cubic meters or 1,000,000 liters per person annually, according to the United Nations, published on July 9, 2020.
Given this context, drip irrigation has gained popularity among farmers due to its water efficiency and high productivity. A drip irrigation system is user-friendly, although relatively expensive to set up, and has the highest productivity per unit area and low crop root and leaf disease incidence due to the minimal direct interaction with the leaves.
When implementing a drip irrigation system, it's essential to consider the following factors:
- Irrigation time: Watering in the early morning allows the soil to warm up during the day, reducing the risk of root infections in commercial crops.
- Flow rate: Higher emitter flow rates result in faster watering and reduced incidence of emitter clogging. Farmers are encouraged to use drip tapes with emitter flow rates from 1.5 liters per hour.
- Drip line thickness: A thickness of 0.4mm and above is well-suited for tropical open field crops, while 0.3mm thick drip tapes can be used in greenhouses with less solar radiation exposure.
- Water supply pressure: Most drip tapes in Kenya are designed to work under low gravity pressure (from 1.5 meters head or 0.15 bar). When using high pressure, consider using double emitter drips pipes or high-pressure models.
- Emitter spacing: The choice of emitter spacing depends on the volume of water needed by the crop, with a drip line with an emitter spacing of 15cm watering more per unit area than a 30cm line.
Wamae Mwangi, a director at Grekkon Limited - Irrigation Hub, shares his expertise on drip irrigation.
