We are connected with a partner in Kenya who is doing a two acre vegetable garden with sprinkler irrigation. They would like to expand the gardens to about 10 acres. We know Echo has done a lot with drip irrigation and I’ve looked at various reports on your website. Does anyone have recommendations on what works well in Africa, or Kenya specifically? Do you have connections with missions there doing some form of drip irrigation? Thanks John
Hi John,
Sounds like a significant expansion of their gardens! I would encourage your partner organization to reach out to their local ag extension service to see if they may have someone who has experience with irrigation in that area. While I don’t have any background information on your specific situation, one thing to keep in mind when considering drip irrigation is the high start up cost. While its irrigation efficiency can’t be beat, scaling up to 10 ac presents a new set of challenges. Most of those challenges stem from water quality issues. Water filtration becomes a significant challenge when your water contains a lot of solids. The other piece relating to water quality is water hardness. If you have a high concentration of minerals in your water, this can present a problem over time as mineral deposits form and clog emitters.
While I’m sure there are others in Kenya, I believe Amiran sells irrigation supplies and may be able to offer some insight into design as well.
I hope this helps!