MORE CROP PER DROP
Discovering the benefits of drip irrigation in Nepal
- Les Kletke
It is less plastic than a North American family throws away in one week, even if they are deliberate recyclers. To a Nepalese farmer, it is a life-changing piece of equipment.
“It” is a drip irrigation system that consists of a 20-litre container with two spigots that control the flow of water to pipes going across the end of a plot of vegetables. There are t-connectors every 40 centimeters to pipes running down the rows, and holes that allow the water to pass from the pipe to the plants.
“It has changed my life,” says Bhudan. “We not only get an extra crop, but I get my vegetables to market earlier when the price is highest. There are two things that affect the price of vegetables: quality and being the first to market. The irrigation has made all the difference in the world.”
The difference between irrigated and non-irrigated plants in the plot of bitter melons could not be more obvious or more dramatic. The plants at the head of the rows that have not received water have a few leaves 12 inches from the ground. The plants in the rows served by the tiny plastic pipes already have fruit waiting to be picked.
“That is the difference,” he says, offering me a melon he has just picked with one hand while pointing at the low bush-like plants where we are standing.
The irrigation units start at $16 for a 120 square meter unit. A 150 square meter unit costs about $24.
In the past 18 months, IDE has recorded sales of more than 1,000 units. IDE also provides information about growing more than one crop per year. The region typically had land lying idle during the dry season; now they are able to produce high-value vegetable crops.
Bhudan is a modern farmer by Nepalese standards, and has been an innovator all of his career.
His farm has been equipped with a biogas collector for five years. The manure from his two cows generates enough power for lights and cooking in the family home.
“It is better in summer when it is hot,” he says, “not so good in winter when it is cold, but we have enough power for the house.” The day that I visited him, the temperatures were touching 40 degrees Celsius. I am sure that there would have been more than enough activity in the pit to generate power for the home.
His hectare-and-a-half of farm land is all terraced. He produces chilies in the summer, cauliflower and cabbage in the winter, bitter gourds and beans in the spring and throughout the summer he raises tomatoes.
“We grow the local variety of tomato that is not supplied by other parts of the country,” he says. “The demand is higher and the price is better for our tomatoes because they are better for chutney. The salad tomatoes are not in as much demand so the price is not as good.”
Tomatoes are the only vegetable crop he produces from open pollinated seed. He uses hybrid seed for the rest of his production.
“The yield is better and the time to maturity is generally about half of what it is with the open pollinated varieties,” he says. “With the hybrids I can have cucumbers to market in 40 days, where the old varieties take 70 days to maturity.”
He also grows potatoes, one of the highest value crops produced in the area. He sells them through a local collection center (another IDE initiative) which sells to buyers from Kathmandu. His village is close enough to the city that buyers come to purchase his produce for sale in the city markets.
More crop... More margin. IDE has helped to develop collection centres: places where local farmers can bring their produce and collectively negotiate better prices with traders.
He has evaluated coffee production for his farm but has decided against it.
“Most of my fields are on the south-facing side of the mountain,” he says. “Coffee needs shade. The bright sunlight on the south side does not work well with coffee so I have decided against it.”
He knows that it would be a good revenue-generating crop.
“It is good for the farmers on the other side of the mountain who have the north face,” he says. “I have to concentrate on crops that can use the sunlight and will get ready for market soon. I have to use the advantage that I have here.”
Maize is one of the crops that uses the extra sunlight well. We grows maize and rice for sale. He uses the straw for his livestock, which feed the biogas generator, providing power for his house.
“There is more value to the cereal crops than just the seed,” he says with a smile, pointing at the pit below his cow pen.
For Bhudan, water is the major challenge on the steep hillsides that he farms. From June to January, he has to manage water and drain it from his fields while preventing soil erosion on the steep hillsides. Then, when the weather turns dry, his farm is water-deficient from January to June before nature’s tap turns on again.
It is the dry season that has changed with the use of the drip irrigation system. Previously, the land did not produce a crop during this time. Now he grows a vegetable crop that goes to the local market and his income has increased dramatically.