Initially associated with hi-tech irrigated agriculture, drip irrigation is now being used by a much wider range of farmers in emerging and developing countries. This book documents the enthusiasm, spread and use of drip irrigation systems by smallholders but also some disappointments and disillusion faced in the global South. It explores and explains under which conditions it works, for whom and with what effects. The book deals with drip irrigation 'behind the scenes', showcasing what largely remain 'untold stories'. Most research on drip irrigation use plot-level studies to demonstrate the technology’s ability to save water or improve efficiencies and use a narrow and rather prescriptive engineering or economic language. They tend to be grounded in a firm belief in the technology and focus on the identification of ways to improve or better realize its potential. The technology also figures prominently in poverty alleviation or agricultural modernization narratives, figuring as a tool to help smallholders become more innovative, entrepreneurial and business minded. Instead of focusing on its potential, this book looks at drip irrigation-in-use, making sense of what it does from the perspectives of the farmers who use it, and of the development workers and agencies, policymakers, private companies, local craftsmen, engineers, extension agents or researchers who engage with it for a diversity of reasons and to realize a multiplicity of objectives. While anchored in a sound engineering understanding of the design and operating principles of the technology, the book extends the analysis beyond engineering and hydraulics to understand drip irrigation as a sociotechnical phenomenon that not only changes the way water is supplied to crops but also transforms agricultural farming systems and even how society is organized. The book provides field evidence from a diversity of interdisciplinary case studies in sub-Saharan Africa, the Mediterranean, Latin America, and South Asia, thus revealing some of the untold stories of drip irrigation.

The book Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation is intended as a text book of micro irrigation design and practices for the students of the agricultural sciences and the professionals and workers in the field of micro irrigation. The book discusses the type and components, hydraulics and design, installation and maintenance of micro irrigation system. It contains good number of numerical as example and task to get the students familiar to the requirements, complicacies, and possible remedies in actual working condition. In addition to conventional broad and short questions in every of the book there are multiple choice questions to assist the students in preparing the competitive examinations.

An entirely new agricultural technology, trickle or drip irrigation, began its development in the early 1960's. Initial progress was sporadic even though the advantages in water management with trickle systems were recognized. Operators were reluctant to use the system because of its high initial cost and questions regarding its reliability. Once the main problems were isolated and solutions developed to make the system reliable, rapid acceptance by the growers resulted. Today, trickle irrigation is being used on crops that were earlier considered to be uneconomical. This multi-purpose handbook brings together current knowledge from various engineering and scientific disciplines (crop, hydraulic, irrigation and soil sciences) needed for understanding the trickle irrigation system for crop production. The two dozen contributors are experts on the various subjects, which range from the basic to the more practical aspects of trickle irrigation. Major topics include design, operation and management - with individual chapters covering historical development, emitter construction and clogging, system design, water and salt distribution, automation, water treatment, irrigation scheduling, maintenance, fertilization and salinity.The book greatly expands the scope of research papers, reviews, extension bulletins, and updates earlier text with new information on trickle systems. A multi-disciplinary approach has been taken on a multi-faceted subject. The material contained in the book is the most comprehensive yet developed on the topic. Illustrative sample problems and solutions provide field operators and extension personnel with information needed to install and maintain trickle systems. As it is up-to-date, it is useful as a teaching and reference source for students, manufacturers and irrigation system operators as well as irrigation and crop specialists, and consultants.

This important book—the only complete, one-stop manual on microirrigation worldwide--offers knowledge and techniques necessary to develop and manage a drip/trickle or micro irrigation system. The simplicity of the contents facilitates a technician to develop an effective micro irrigation system. Management of Drip/Trickle or Micro Irrigation includes the basic considerations relating to soil-water-plant interactions, with topics such as methods for soil moisture measurement; evapotranspiration; irrigation systems; tensiometer use and installation; principles of drip/ micro/ trickle irrigation; filtration systems; automation; chloration; service and maintenance; design of drip irrigation and lateral lines; the evaluation of uniformity of application; and an economical analysis for selecting irrigation technology.

The U.N. predicts the Earth will have more than 9.6 billion people by 2050. With resources already scarce, how will we feed them all? Journalist Lisa Palmer has traveled the world for years, documenting the cutting-edge innovations of people and organizations on the front lines of fighting the food gap.