Irrigation Network

The present book intends to assess the performance of Pressurized Irrigation Network System (PINS), the effectiveness of institutional arrangements for management of PINS projects and the bottlenecks for their smooth functioning in India. Since Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Telangana are the leading states of the country promoting PINS and MIS, the study was planned as an all India coordinated study covering these four states. The WUAs in the study areas of the selected states were interviewed to capture the dynamics of community based irrigation management. Under different command areas, the study analysed system performance of PINS with MIS such as drip and sprinklers in terms of their functioning, costs and benefits, adoptability. The study finds beneficial impact of PINS investment on cropped area, irrigation area, farm production as well as water and energy savings. The book will be very useful for those who are interested in policies and governance issues related to irrigation water management in the country and the selected states in particular.

Irrigation is practiced from time immemorial in one form or the other. Now a situation has reached when land, water and power resources are a scarce commodity. Increase in population coupled with potential infrastructure requirement has greatly strained the scarce resources. The book explains how proper planning canal network and OFD works can save the national resources and affect of ill planning. Book explains the procedure for planning canal network and criteria to be fixed before planning canal network and OFD works.

Smallholder irrigation systems–where farm sizes generally range from a fraction of a hectare to 10 hectares–pose special management problems, especially where the water available for irrigation is frequently less than the demand. The intensity of system adjustments required to meet individual farmer demands, and the administrative complexity of measuring and accounting water deliveries have generally proven excessive when attempting to meet “on demand” schedules, resulting in chaos (often characterized by illegal tampering with infrastructure, and vast differences of water use intensity at different locations in the system). The alternative–provision of a simple service, based on proportional sharing of available supplies on the basis of landholdings–has been resilient for many years over vast areas. The approach is based on a clear delineation between the part of the irrigation system that is actively managed (at various flow rates and water levels) and the part of the system that operates either at full supply level (with proportional division of water down to the level at which farmers rotate among their individual farms), or is completely shut. This operational design is known as a “structured” system, and has well-defined hydraulic characteristics, simplifying operation and management, in turn allowing a clearer definition of water entitlements and the responsibilities of agency staff and farmers. The approach is particularly suited to areas where water is scarce and discipline is needed to ration water among users. An additional benefit, which has been demonstrated in modeling studies using a well–proven model relating to water and yield, is that the productivity of water (which is more important than the more traditional productivity of land when water is scarce) is substantially increased when deficit irrigation is practiced–a widely observed and predictable response to rationed water supplies. Structured systems are most suited where water is scarce, clear definition of water entitlements is needed, management capacity is limited, and investment resources are limited. The approach to determining critical aspects of a structured system design is described in this report.

The rehabilitation of the northern part of Homs-Hama irrigation network under the European Union-funded smallholder support programme in the Syrian Arab Republic was designed within the context of supporting agricultural productivity and sustainable use of water resources. The comprehensive multidimensional capitalization study led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) aimed at reviewing the intervention’s achievements at different levels, comparing these achievements against plans, and assessing the impacts of the rehabilitation of the irrigation network in Al-Rastan on agriculture, natural resources, and socioeconomic status of the targeted communities. This is to identify further pathways for improving the performance of irrigation management and sustaining natural resources while strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers.

The agricultural industry is dealing with enormous challenges across the globe, including the limited availability of arable lands and fresh water, as well as the effect of climate change. Machinery plays a crucial role in agriculture and farming systems, in order to feed the world’s growing population. In the last decade, we have witnessed major advances in agricultural machinery and technologies, particularly as manufacturers and researchers develop and apply various novel ways of automation as well as the data and information gathering and analyzing capabilities of their machinery. This book presents the state-of-the-art information on the important innovations in the agricultural and horticultural industry. It reviews and presents different novel technologies and implementation of these technologies to optimize farming processes and food production. There are four sections, each addressing a specific area of development. Section I discusses the recent development of farm machinery and technology. Section II focuses on water and irrigation engineering. Section III covers harvesting and post-harvest technology. Section IV describes computer modelling and simulation. Each section highlights current industry trends and latest research progress. This book is ideal for those working in or are associated with the fields of agriculture, agri-food chain and technology development and promotion.

Irrigation is becoming an activity of precision, where combining information collected from various sources is necessary to optimally manage resources. New management strategies, such as big data techniques, sensors, artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and new technologies in general, are becoming more relevant every day. As such, modeling techniques, both at the water distribution network and the farm levels, will be essential to gather information from various sources and offer useful recommendations for decision-making processes. In this book, 10 high quality papers were selected that cover a wide range of issues that are relevant to the different aspects related to irrigation management: water source and distribution network, plot irrigation systems, and crop water management.

Microirrigation for Crop Production: Design, Operation, and Management, Second Edition, Volume Thirteen is the latest release in this go-to foundational resource for the basics of engineering and the science of the design and operation of micoirrigation systems. This new edition includes novel methods for measurement and estimation of evapotranspiration, resource-efficient microirrigation design and operation, advanced irrigation scheduling methods and tools, novel methods and technology of microirrigation automation, monitoring and control, updates in crop salinity tolerance and leaching practices, variable rate irrigation, updates on the use of biological effluents and chemicals and pesticides to include safety and regulatory concerns.The revised book will provide an understanding on the basic science needed to comprehend systems design, operation, management, maintenance, monitoring and performance evaluation. Presents a detailed explanation and examples of systems design, operation, and management specific to the latest types of microirrigation systems, as well as sample irrigation schedules Assesses the proper use of irrigation technology and its effects to increase efficiency and crop productivity Includes illustrations of design options and charts of systems typologies

With the strong competition that is arising for water resources the modernisation of irrigation systems is becoming a critical issue. One of the alternatives to modernisation is the use of pressurised systems to replace part of the existing networks. This publication analyses the performance of pressurised irrigation systems operating on demand, and provides revised criteria for the design of such irrigation networks. For this purpose, new approaches and a computer program have been developed. The program has been tested in several field situations in the Mediterranean Basin and has demonstrated its usefulness not only by quickly identifying weak points in irrigation networks but also by identifying the power requirements of pumping stations needed to satisfy varying demand situations.