Research by the Appropriate technology Center for water and Sanitation confirmed that; irrigation farming has enormous benefits to the farmers but this ought to be supported by use of fertilizers (these can be the no cost fertilizers such as human urine) to enhance crop yields. Irrigation reduces the dependence of farmers on rain -fed agriculture, providing them with the opportunity to produce crops through out the year. Cost analysis for the cabbage growing experiement: Analysis of the results indicated that when drip irrigation and fertigation using urine are applied the yields are better (43%) but also the weights of the cabbages are at least 3times heavier than those where no intervention was done. Further analysis revealed that including the cost of drip irrigation systems, an investment in drip irrigation together with fertigation using urine will provide a profit of 62% within one calendar year. In contrast, an investment on labour and seeds for one garden without fertigation or irrigation will lead to a loss of 39%. |
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