Drip Irrigation : Be ready for maintenance

Over the years, several users have inquired about pros and cons of drip irrigation. Though there is abundance of published information from an academic and marketing perspective, I will try to elaborate it from a practical perspective based on our experiences.

• There is no doubt that drip is more efficient in terms of water usage. However, it comes with a cost. Such costs should be evaluated in the context of the intended crop and the value of the produced output. Often installation can become very expensive, especially for vegetables since laterals are closely spaced.

Typical Drip Irrigation System schematic

•  Though drip irrigation requires less labor during irrigation, it requires manpower to maintain the system. This involves frequent cleaning of disc filters, periodic flushing of sub mains and laterals, checking of drippers for water flow and regular check for leaks. In our experience, it takes about 2-4 hours for 1 person to check and rectify leaks etc on a 5 acre Mango UHD plot. Obviously, it is subject to number of corrections to be done. We perform flushing, drip checks almost every other week.

• Dissolved salts in the water pose a significant challenge with drippers getting blocked. Though online drippers are easier to clean, inline laterals are almost impossible to clean manually. Acid flushing is recommended by experts, however it is not easy to procure acid in open market in wake of the recent acid attacks. 

Standard assembly between water mains and drip line

• Consideration should be given to the local geography and fauna. Rocky soil can hard on the laterals after a while. Often small ruminants or dogs may chew laterals which will immediately need replacements. At Savera Farms, we experienced pea cocks punching laterals for a quick shower during our hot summers!

• In India, there are subsidies available by state governments for small acreages and NHB for a plantation project, but most of these programs may not be feasible for small or hobby farms.

• If you are considering using 4 LPH drippers for irrigation, I would highly discourage from using them. They easily get blocked since the cavity in the drippers is smaller. You are better off using a 8 LPH dripper and decreasing your irrigation time by half. 

Hopefully, this helps and look forward to others adding their feedback and perspective to this list.

Commercial Sprinkler System at Savera Farms

For this year, one of our goals was to install a sprinkler based system for our short term crop. At this time, we are under pilot for 4 acres of CO4 fodder and high density Moringa (leaves) using sprinkler system as the primary irrigation delivery.

Earlier in the year we had inter-cropped CO4 grass within our Mango plots with wide spacing. This impacted our Mango plants due to nitrogen deficiency created by CO4. Although our inter-cropping was 'experts approved' no one advised us of the nitrogen deficiency CO4 can cause. Since then we decided to separate the CO4 grass cultivation to prevent further impact to our Mango plots.

As part of increasing our short term crop portfolio, we decided to venture into Moringa leaf cultivation. Although the trade mostly comprises of traders and middle men, we feel encouraged by a recent spurt of processing units in India. We feel there is a good scope for expansion into Moringa leaves cultivation given its significant  health benefits and (slowly) growing acceptance &awareness. The biggest advantage is that it can be processed, packed and stored - unlike most short term crops. Note : Most buyers we got in touch with turned out to be brokers. Cultivators should establish contact and visit processing facilities of end customers during their crop planning phase.

During our plot design phase, we decided not to go for lateral based drip irrigation due to its high installation and maintenance cost. Inline and online drippers are often challenging to clean/unblock when dealing with intensive cultivation. Rain gun was considered but its limited irrigation area and high water pressure requirement was a deterrent. Eventually, we decided to implement a sprinkler based system. Low maintenance cost, fixed infrastructure (unlike rain gun that requires to be moved around) and uniform coverage were attractive features. Since we are still in pilot phase, the only disadvantage we can foresee is of water penetration into the soil. That may need to be mitigated by extending irrigation time. We hope once CO4 and Moringa take root, extensive watering will not be essential.

A view of the pilot plot after the sprinklers were installed. The sprinkler installation matrix is similar drippers but adjusted to crop, soil, irrigation and spacing considerations.

We took advantage of a recent bout of summer monsoons to disc plough the moist plots. 

Healthy red soil, post ploughing..

Finally, the sprinkler test in progress!

We have recently started with the sprinkler systems and are expecting a learning curve. Are there any cultivators which have hand-on experience with the setup, maintenance and usage of commercial grade sprinkler systems? I am sure all of us can benefit from hands-on experts ..:)

Farm Mechanization : Tractor based spraying system

A few months ago, I had posted a blog on tractor mounted spray for Moringa. Some of you had expressed interest in knowing more about the attachments. I received a few email queries as well, this post includes my direct responses for everyone's benefit.  In case you missed the video of the spray, you can access it here .

The attachments for the spraying system are few and easy to work with. The tractor mounted pump is attached at the back of driver's seat. There is an input hose that connects the spray drum to the pump. Additionally, there are 2 output hoses that connect the pump to the spray guns and lastly you have the spray guns.

This is a view of the 2HP pump that is powered by our mini-tractor PTO (Power Take-Off). There is one inlet holes at the bottom that connects to the drum by the red hose below. Additionally, there are 2 outlets with small valves to control the pressure and operation. The screw at top left is instrumental in adjusting the pump pressure.

The lever below is the pressure screw that is used during transit time (when the tractor is running but spraying is not required). Lifting the lever results in activation of 'bypass' i.e. medicinal concoction is pumped back into the tank and not into the spray hoses. The hole at the bottom of lever is for the bypass hose.

This is the inlet hose that connects the storage tank to the pump. The circular disc is a filter to screen out impurities getting into the pump.

These are heavy duty outlet pipes which carry pressurized spray solution. We decided to use the 50m hoses since our plots can be fairly deep and away from motorable roads.
- Wrapping method shown here is not best practice! :) 

Lastly, the hand held spray gun which delivers the solution to the plant. Pressure in these spray guns can be adjusted by the cylindrical handles on the left. We have generic spray guns but I have seen more sophisticated spray guns with multiple spray adjustments harness features.

Processing CO4 fodder for Goats & Sheep

After much delay, we were able to procure the chaff cutter machine last month. CO4 fodder which was screaming to be harvested finally saw the light of day of being chopped and processed.

The machine comes with a 2 hp motor and is available from Agri Engineering dept under subsidy. There is approx 50% subsidy available and the beneficiary pays about Rs 15000/-

While the stem of the fodder had become yellow and hard, it was chopped up and mixed with sheep manure. Eventually, we should get some good decomposed manure in a few months. Using the chopped material as a mulch was considered, but a couple of horticulture experts warned us about the risk of attracting termites.

I had posted a blog on the diet of goats and sheep a few weeks back. In case you missed it, you can find it here. 

Green fodder is chopped separately and the sheep seem to enjoy the taste of their new food.

CO4 fodder was harvested manually and will the bush cutter.

Part of the process was to finely chop the stalk for compost processing. Usually, we would try to use the fresh, succulent stem as part of animal fodder as well.

Musings : Farm Innovations, Emus and Farmer Consortiums

In this digital age, information is everywhere and sometimes there is too much to comprehend. Here are a few of my musings and tidbits of information that I discovered recently and found interesting so decided to share.

Frugal Innovations from Haryana : This was an interesting feature on an Indian farmer done by BBC. The innovation came in the form of a machine developed by the farmer to extract Aloe Vera jelly. Aloe Vera is an attractive option for many since it grows well in marginal lands. Problem with marginal areas is that they often have marginal infrastructure and resources as well. The issue is exacerbated since Aloe Vera jelly extraction process is a time sensitive given harvested leaves spoil within hours. Our enterprising farmer has developed machine(s) which allow him to extract jelly quickly, preserve and process it. Happy to see he has seen some success and even exported his machines to other countries!

Disenfranchisement of Emus :  Some of you will remember the Emu farming craze that swept the agri-community about 2 years ago. The forums were ablaze with how lucrative Emu farming can be. There were dozens of 'suppliers' touting Emu eggs and chicks on every online forum. However, there was a distinct lack of information on Emu consumption. Some folks did inquire but received little information on how & where to sell Emu products. Fast forward 2 years, Emu farms are now in dismal state across the country. There is very limited domestic demand for Emu products in India and international markets are no better. I cannot help but think of the proverbial 'told-you-so' when discussing this with my impacted agri-prenuer friends. It is unfortunate that hard-earned money was lost and now we have starving birds dying a slow death in numerous farms.

Farmer-Producer Organization Support in India : It was a welcome change when I recently read about the central govt. policy which promises tangible benefits to the farmer-producer community. Essentially, the policy will enable Farmer-Producer Organizations (FPO) a.k.a farmer consortium, to available of cheap funding. The FPO will need to be a registered consortium meetings the eligibility criteria set forth. In addition, such consortiums will also receive tax breaks since their earnings are considered taxable. While such measures are progressive, I am still curious how many farmers have actually benefited from it. With the ball set in motion, I am hopeful that the govt. is keen to implement and socialize such policies as well and this is not just lip service!


Credits : Original publishers withhold copyrights.

Deweeding by Brush cutter

As part of our efforts to mechanize farm operations, brush cutter is another implement which we have added recently to our growing list of machines.
The machine marketed by Oleo mac is a very handy tool to keep the weeds under control in areas of intensive cultivation and is powered by petrol. In our experience so far, it consumes 1 litre in 1.5 to 2 hours (depending on thickness of weeds).

Brush cutter in action

 

Before pic..

After pic..

Currently, we are using the brush cutter in a couple of plots where fodder is being cultivated as an intercrop with mango. Deweeding by rotavator is impossible due to close spacing, as a result this machine works well. As an effort to reuse agri waste optimally, the weeds that have been cut will be used to mulch the mango plants.

If any of our followers use better, more efficient weed management methods, feel free to share the information.

Deweeding via Rotavator

Monsoons in 2012 were highly deficient in Tamil Nadu and a few districts in the state were declared drought hit. In Sivaganga, there were a few showers in August and September. The next 2 months which typically receives more rain, went dry.

The first week of 2013 witnessed continuous drizzling for a couple of days. With the soil moist, we put the mini tractor Rotavator to work to incorporate the weeds into the soil that had accumulated since the last deweeding.

Following are a few photos and recent videos of us deweeding Mango acerages at Savera Farms.

The 'aligners' proved to be helpful to operate close to our Alphonso saplings without casualties. After initial oversight by the farm hands, the operator was able to confidently plough close to the plants and speed up the operation.

 

The organic (bio-mass) replenishment is among the best ways to revive the land. As an added incentive, we noticed a flock of white-herons have started frequenting our plots for worms, even in days when we don't plough!

Reliable performance and speed of operation are significant advantages for mechanized deweeding in this manner. It is important to setup a regular schedule to deweed plantation crops, especially in the early phases. Training the labour force and maintenance of equipment have not been intensive so the rewards of Rotavating far outweigh the costs.

Tractor mounted spraying (Moringa)

With this post, we complete 2 years of blogging today! 

Our journey into this new territory has been full of interesting experiences, most of them good and all of them educational. They say, a road less traveled is less traveled for a reason. However, a couple of years back when we embarked on this project, we undertook a journey not taken by anyone within our family and friends. In the true Techie fashion, we have learned on-the-job, taught a few and are glad to be more than hanging on!

I feel content that we kept our focus intact and tried not to deviate from our goal. Across our crops, we have concluded UHD / High Density planting of 3 Mango varieties, developed a small forest of Melia Dubia plantations, within 7 months started generating revenue from Moringa pods and finally the farm looks lush green where we have CO-4 fodder. Much progress has been made since the 5 palm trees that dotted our southern acreages a couple of years back. A lot of people have been instrumental in guiding us along the way and I am grateful to our families, friends and supporters who are often wiser and smarter than us.

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Today's post are 2 videos on a subject that we cannot stress enough - mechanization of farm operations. Mechanization is the need of the hour and any progressive farmer has to keep abreast with the latest tools and machines available to make the maintenance phase as efficient and 'labour independent' as possible. At this time we spray every fortnight and it usually takes us 6 hours for our 850 trees. We hope to reduce our spraying to one-half to (once a month) with a solid dose of organic spray.

A recent addition to our farm machinery is a tractor mounted sprayer system. These are videos of when it was initially put to test. Videos can be accessed in the following links:

 

Moringa Spray part 1  

Moringa Spray part 2

You can also view these and other videos at our YouTube Channel :  Savera Farms Youtube Videos

As always, if you have embraced efficient methods of mechanization, we are always looking to do things better, faster, cheaper. At the moment we are exploring various configurations of Rain-Guns for our fodder acreages. If anyone has experience with the Sprayer systems or Rain-Guns, we look forward to some recommendations and words of advice..

Mitsubishi mini tractor MT 180D

Choosing the right tractor can be as daunting a task as choosing the right car. We were in the market for a new tractor a couple of months back and after thorough research and analysis we went ahead with Mitsubishi  mini tractor MT 180.
Since the initial ploughing and development was completed by local tractors, we wanted a tractor for the "maintenance" mode that could maneuver through the closely spaced Mango UHD and Melia Dubia plantations.

Various implements can be attached to these types of tractor - Rotavator, 5 Finger and Disc Plough and Hydraulic Trolley. I would not recommend using the Disc Plough (for first time breaking of soil) with this tractor since the machine is relatively less powerful with 18 hp motor. However, implements for maintenance operations like 5 Finger Plough and Rotavator could be used when enough moisture is present.
In Tamil Nadu, tractors less than 39 hp qualify for government subsidy. In Sivagangai district, MT 180 was eligible for a maximum subsidy of Rs 1.25 lakhs (tractor costs approx Rs 2.8 lakhs exclusive of subsidy)

Apart from this, a fertigation pump can also be attached for easy spraying.

The pump has an inlet, outlet, and a bypass lever. Recommended pressure is 2.5 kg/cm2. It can be easily attached/detached from the back of the driver's seat. In the next couple of weeks, we are planning on spraying the plants. Will post a video regarding the operations of the pump. 

Specifications of the tractor can be viewed at
http://www.vsttillers.com/tractor/mitsubishi-shakti-mt180d-tractor-rotary