Why Flood Irrigation Is Waste Of Resources?

• May 4th, 2019
• Flood Irrigation

Flood irrigation is an ancient technique of irrigating fields and crops.  It was possibly the preliminary form of irrigation utilized by farmers as they started cultivating crops and is still considered amongst the most common techniques of irrigation utilized nowadays.

By way of Flood irrigation, water is supplied to the field by pipe, ditch, or some other ways and merely flows over the ground by the crop.  Even though flood irrigation is a common way of irrigating crops it is undoubtedly not effective in comparison with other methods.  By way of flood irrigation, it is typically presumed that only half of the water delivered ends up irrigating the fields.  The other half of water is lost through runoff, evaporation, infiltration of uncultivated fields, and transpiration thru the leaves of crops.

Under the flood irrigation method, it is common to release water until or unless the whole field is covered.  By way of flooding the whole field simultaneously, irrigators fail to take benefits of a capillary stream of water through the soil, mainly in clay soils.  This ultimately results in the substantial runoff, anaerobic disorders in the soil and around the root zone, and deep irrigation underneath the root zone that is unattainable to the crops.

Why is Flood Irrigation Bad?

• Flood Irrigation is the most unproductive techniques of irrigation as only about twenty percent of water is utilized by crops. The rest of the water is being lost in the form of seepage, runoff and evaporation
• Leveling of land upsurges the cost of cultivation.
• This technique is inappropriate for crops that are highly sensitive to waterlogging.
• The growth of the crop is non-uniform as water allocation through this technique is extremely uneven.
• There is a likelihood of soil erosion.

A Few Recommendations:

Even though flood irrigation will never be as proficient as other forms of irrigation there are numerous techniques that can be utilized to expand its efficiency:

Leveling fields: As water is distributed using gravity it won’t spread to high spots in the field. Farm Dynamics Pakistan offers Central Pivot Irrigation mechanism for lesser water consumption.

Surge flooding:  instead of releasing water simultaneously it must be released through intervals permitting each release to penetrate the soil prior to releasing more water. Central Pivot and hose reel Irrigation systems at Farm Dynamics Pakistan provides better consumption of water resources, predominantly in waterless regions.

Recycling runoff: Water that runs off the sides and end of irrigated are is seized in lower-lying fields and pushed to the top of the area where it can be reutilized. A proficient Central Pivot & hose reel Irrigation system ensures uniform irrigation.

Soil moisture sensors offer irrigators with a valuable tool when utilized in combination with flow irrigation. Strategic positioning of sensors nearby the end of the irrigated field and at carefully chosen depths notifies the irrigator once the soil is drenched and irrigation must be cut off to take benefit of infiltration that commonly occurs.  This kind of irrigation is identical to ‘cycle and soak’ irrigation suggested for spray irrigation mechanisms and provides similar advantages.

At Farm Dynamics Pakistan, Hose Reel and Central Pivot Irrigation systems are applied by our proficient farmers. These mechanisms are a perfect substitute for ineffective Flood Irrigation technique because of:

• Less water requirement
• Uniform irrigation
• Better consumption of water resources, specifically in arid areas
• Uniform application
• Adoptable to uneven fields
• Can easily be towed to different areas
• Irrigating extensive ranges of crops