Increasing water efficiency on the farm

Dripsol Company's best option is to implement solutions that have the potential of increasing the efficiency, equity and sustainability of water use. This will require a shift from the focus on pure “land productivity” without concern for water use to “water productivity,” that is, getting the highest yield out of every drop of water used in agriculture. Resource efficient methods and technology will allow farmers to grow more food with less water while protecting biodiversity.
In many parts of the world, mismanagement is depleting freshwater resources—the blue water in rivers, lakes and groundwater stores—which in turn has threatened freshwater biodiversity and permanently changed patterns of water flow. Agriculture utilizes on average 70 percent of the world’s available fresh water. But this is higher in areas such as the Middle East and northern Africa, where up to 90 percent of freshwater withdrawals are used to irrigate crops.

Through Dripsol company modern Drip Irrigation holds the most promise for increasing food productivity and security, provided it is managed efficiently. Steady irrigation combined with optimum delivery of fertilizers, seed care, crop enhancement and crop protection products can make fields more productive, even with a reliable supply of rain and is crucial to maintain productivity in times of drought. More efficient ways to   irrigate land will save tremendous amounts of water. About 40 percent of water used in irrigation is wasted through unsustainable practices such as field flooding. Modern irrigation systems can drastically reduce the amount of water used in farming by efficiently delivering water directly to plants. This reduces the amount of water lost through surface evaporation by 30 to 70 percent depending on crop and weather conditions.

The second part of the equation comes from the rainfall that infiltrates and remains in the soil, called green water. This is the largest fresh water resource and the basis of rain-fed agriculture. While farmers cannot control how much it rains, they can do a lot to retain rain in the soil. All rain-fed agriculture depends on the soil’s capacity to capture rain water. Heavy rain cannot penetrate parched and crusted soil and just runs off the surface.

Even with optimum soil and water management, farmers will still lose crops to drought and heat if they do not have the best seeds and crop protection to carry them through inevitable dry spells.  Researchers have developed new crop varieties which are more water efficient and tolerant to heat and drought through advances in breeding and biotechnology. Modest measures like conservation tillage practices that improve soil structure by avoiding plowing, mulching to prevent evaporation, and small-scale water harvesting can increase rain water infiltration by as much as 2-3 fold. However, the yields from irrigated farms are often higher than from solely rain-fed agriculture. Thus, farmers must integrate a combination of rain-fed and irrigated agricultural methods to optimize the yields of crops for the water used.