As the day looms when water demand is expected to exceed supply, calls for continued improvements in water efficiency in irrigation systems get louder. In an initiative to reduce wastage, a group of Gauteng farmers received much-needed training in water-saving technology.
Irrigation water losses in Mzansi are unacceptably high, with some reports estimating them at over 43% of the water supplied. Farmers operating on a smaller scale contribute significantly to the irrigation water losses., according to the Agricultural Research Council (ARC).
Unfortunately, smallholder farmers utilising state of the art irrigation systems such as drip and micro-sprayer technology, sometimes experience high water losses.
The ARC recently called on farmers in Gauteng to combat unnecessary irrigation water losses. They wanted to address water loss related challenges that farmers operating in Agri-parks of the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development face.
Getting serious about saving water
The department has seemingly taken improved water use efficiency in its Agri-parks very seriously. Officials organised the training of farmers who operate in the Agri-parks area as well as other farmers operating in neighbouring areas. The recent full day of training on “water-saving technology” took place at the ARC-NRE agricultural engineering campus in Silverton.
A total of 60 farmers were in attendance. The morning session covered a general introduction to irrigation, different irrigation systems emphasising descriptions and important factors, practical water saving techniques applied to farming on a smaller scale, and irrigation scheduling.
The main objective of the morning session was to impart theoretical knowledge to farmers on:
- Important factors to consider when deciding or planning to install an irrigation system;
- Practical techniques they can apply in their irrigation systems to save water and to reduce losses from the pipes, emitters and soils on their farms;
- And irrigation scheduling techniques applicable in the different farming contexts.
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Learning practical skills
The afternoon session was devoted to practical troubleshooting in drip and micro-jet systems at the demonstration site. The objective was to impart practical skills to the participants on care and maintenance of irrigation equipment and infrastructure in order to improve water use efficiency and to reduce wastage on their farms.
Some of the issues discussed and demonstrated include unblocking of emitters, flushing dripper lines, closing the end-caps of dripper lines, mending broken dripper lines, cleaning of filters, different mulching options, irrigation scheduling and nutrient management using the wetting front detector and chameleon.
The main expected outcome of the training course was to produce farmers who are conscious about the looming water crisis at national level and are better equipped with knowledge on how to deal with wastage of water on their farms.
The aim of including GDARD officials in the training was to create a group of resource personnel who will be closer to the farmers for technical back-up during implementation of the knowledge they gained during the course. All the participants were issued with certificates of attendance.
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