Drip Irrigation - Pepsi and Nica

Low cost plastic hose, used for drip irrigation

Drip irrigation provides farmers the most efficient way to grow crops in water scarce areas through providing water at a controlled and regular rate to the root zone. Historically it has been too expensive for small-plot farmers, but now it is available at low cost and also adapted for small-scale farming and can reduce water losses by 30 - 70% when compared to conventional methods of crop irrigation, while greatly reducing labour and accurately delivering fertilizers. This makes cultivation during the dry season possible, with resulting yield increases of up to 30%.

To make drip irrigation affordable for small farmers, the Chapin bucket or IDE bucket and drum kits were developed and are now being promoted in many countries. A bucket kit costing US$ 5 can irrigate 25 m2 and a drum kit five times as much. Based on this principle, farmers in India started to make their own drip system, made of plastic hose that is normally used to package ice-lollies. Hoses can only be used for one growing season (generating plastic waste) but investment costs are so low that it is not a risk for poor families to invest in it. This technology now more or less promotes itself.

Easy drip irrigation is an improvement of the Pepsi drip that consists of sun resistant lay-flat hoses and micro tubes that have a lifetime of 1-2 years. This option is being developed by IDE and applied in Asia. Practica foundation is testing different options in Nicaragua, Tanzania, Zambia and Ghana.

Suitable conditions

• Drip irrigation is often the favoured method of irrigation, for example on steep and undulating slopes, for porous soils, for shallow soils, fields having widely varying soils, where water is scarce, where water is expensive, and where water is of poor quality.
• The pepsi drip has a capacity of 0.1 - 2 ha.

Advantages	Disadvantages/limitations
- Reduces water consumption.	- Hoses have a short lifetime (generating plastic waste).

Technical specification

Estimated Lifespan

1-2 years

Cost

Cost/ha: Pepsi drip: US$ 60 (plastic hose only). Easy drip: US$ 200 ­ 400.

Country experiences

Location: West Africa.

External Links

• www.cgiar.org/iwmi
• www.ideorg.org
• www.practicafoundation.nl

References

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