Basic Knowledge in Agriculture #48

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Let's picture a land where there is scarcity of rainfall. Then the outcome will be a dry land which has given little or no chance for plants to survive there. At this point, some people might just wait for the natural source of water which is rainfall. But do you know there's a way to supply water to the farmland without waiting for rainfall? Let's find out together.

Irrigation systems are the setup or methods used by farmers to supply their farmland with water using a controlled system. If I want a layman to understand this, I'll say it is the system whereby farmers move water from water sources like rivers, dams, etc to a farmland where there is no water. Let's place our emphasis on the system, should we say that water is needed alone in such a system, I'll say No. We need things like sprinklers, canals or even buckets so we can call the set-up an irrigation system.

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There are different types of irrigation systems that farmers use for the purpose of irrigating their farmland. Permit me to bring in a few to discuss about them.

• Surface Irrigation: Surface Irrigation is the type whereby the water gotten from such a system lands on the ground or the crops itself. One of the good examples is the Sprinkler method. When the machine is initiated, droplets of water falls into the farmland like rainfall.
• Subsurface Irrigation: This type of irrigation system is one where water is delivered below the soil surface which is directly to the root zone. This is unlike the first type where the water is delivered to the soil surface. If you are wondering how it works, pipes are buried underground for this purpose. Then the water moves through them to the soil near the root area to deliver its duty.

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• Give sufficient water supply throughout the planting season: Through irrigation, farmers will be rest assured that the crops won't depend on rainfall for survival. Rather the irrigation system used will sustain the crops and farmland itself.
• Increase crop yield: Since the farmland is well irrigated, there's a high chance that crops there will have its maximum yield.
• Farm expansion to the dry area: We all know that dry areas aren't suitable for farming most crops. But the idea of irrigation can change that fact.

I invite @bossj23, @alexanderpeace and @nsijoro to this contest.