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The production of crops depends, among other things, on such climatic factors as temperature range, length of growing season, and the amount, frequency and distribution of rainfall. Endeavoring to control the variable aspect of these factors, farmers discovered that the moisture growing plants need could be supplied by irrigation. This knowledge enabled humans to become independent of the vagaries of natural rainfall and enabled them to grow crops in arid and semi-arid regions. Applying water to soil for plants is called irrigation.
Irrigation has been practiced since early recorded history. Egypt claims to have the oldest dam, a structure 40 feet high and 355 feet long erected more than 5,000 years ago. An Assyrian queen, before 2000 B.C., directed her government to remove water from the river for the growth of crops. The canal constructed then is still in use today.
There are records of irrigation having been practiced in China more than 4,000 year ago. King Yu of the Hsia Dynasty was elected king because of his outstanding work in water control. The Tu-Kiang Dam, built by Mr. Li during the Chin Dynasty in 200 B.C., continues to irrigate 500,000 acres of rice. The Grand Canal used for navigation and irrigation is some 700 miles long and was built between 589 and 618 A.D.
In Asia Minor, a great civilization existed in the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The remains of a large canal 400 feet wide, 30-50 feet deep and 250 miles long still exists.
There also are records of early irrigation in Ceylon and India.
The Spaniards reported water storage and conveyance structures in Mexico and Peru. Cortez reported irrigated areas in Mexico. Early missionaries brought knowledge of irrigation from the Mediterranean countries to Mexico and the Southwestern United States.
Mormons established the first recorded large scale irrigation system in the United States as a cooperative project in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
Today irrigation is used for four distinct purposes:
· To enable crops to be grown where natural rainfall is too low to grow normal crops.· To provide additional water throughout the growing season, or at critical times, during the crop season when rainfall is inadequate to provide optimum crop production.
· To flood land for growing rice to prevent growth of weeds.
· To enable crops to be grown when they could not normally be grown for lack of rainfall.
Very arid lands are frequently used for grazing animals. The amount of food produced per hectare is usually low. Many of the arid lands are used by nomadic people who have little interest in settling in a particular location and practicing sedentary agriculture. Developing an irrigation project in such an area may face social constraints or conflicts between nomads and sedentary farmers. Water sources are very often difficult to locate. Sedentary farmers must be persuaded to relocate from a known to an unknown situation. Project development under such a situation usually will involve governmental resources. Private funds for such large projects are seldom available.
In areas when lack of natural rainfall or lack of rainfall during the cropping season limits crop production, supplemental irrigation may significantly increase yields or permit farmers to grow crops with higher yield potential or value. For example, in much of Africa sorghum and millet are traditional cereal food crops. With supplemental irrigation, yields of those crops can be increased or maize (corn) may be grown. It has a potential for 50 to 100 percent higher yield than sorghum or millet under optimum water availability and agronomic practices. In certain situations, the production of such high value crops as vegetables or melons may be feasible with irrigation.
Rice is probably the most valued cereal food. Supplemental irrigation may allow it to be produced in areas where it cannot be grown with natural rainfall. And, the capacity to keep the rice flooded during most of the growing period will increase yields and greatly reduce labor required to control weeds.
Most of the developing countries are in climatic zones where freezing temperatures seldom, if ever, occur and lack of rainfall is the major climatic limitation to crop production. Supplemental irrigation may allow the production of high value crops "off-season" when demand, and price, is particularly high.
In summary, a Peace Corps Volunteer engaged in developing small irrigation systems will probably be working in an area where rainfall is sufficient for crop production and the major aim will be to increase yields of existing crops or allow some new crops to be grown with potentials for greater yields or higher prices--higher returns per hectare.
Developing and managing an irrigation system is expensive in labor and money. The system can be justified only by drastically increased crop yields or crop values. For crops grown without irrigation and with moisture a major constraint will require other inputs such as fertilizer and higher seeding rates to take full advantage of the water made available by irrigation. In other cases, growing such crops as fruits and vegetables, might not be possible with normal rainfall but might be more profitable, or socially desirable, with irrigation.
Starting with small plots of highly valued foods (or small plots of field crops) may be the only way acceptable to people in developing countries because they cannot risk bigger losses. If your generation or one before you suffered starvation or severe hunger, you hesitate to risk an improved innovation.
To encourage increased production, developing countries may subsidize fertilizer, hybrids, pesticides, and irrigation. But Volunteers are not likely to have such help for their projects.
In general, traditional rainfed crops that suffered from lack of moisture, will require, when irrigated, higher seeding rates and more fertilizer to produce optimum yields. Exact recommendations on seeding rates and fertilizer applications are "site specific" so local agronomists should be consulted for specific crop recommendations.
Where no varieties or hybrids have been experimentally tested, leading local farmers likely will know the variety or varieties that fit certain local environments: short or long season, insect and disease resistant, etc.
Weed control will probably be more difficult with irrigation so additional labor will be needed during the growing season.
The community will probably have definite ideas about growing higher-value crops. Fruits, vegetables, and melons may have high priority. Before shifting to such higher-value crops based upon use outside the immediate community, carefully consider marketing them. Selling perishable products in distant markets can result in total losses. Roads that remain passable year round, for example, increase the income of villages with surplus farm products to market.
The availability of such inputs as fertilizer must be assured. If fertilizer is not readily available when needed, the irrigation project will fail. And if a higher seeding rate and fertilizer are used, then failure to supply irrigation at the correct time and in the required amount will cause, in the worst cases, a complete crop failure and loss of cash used for inputs.
Failing the first year severely retards acceptance of a project. Small projects that succeed are important examples.
Occasionally a major benefit of irrigation may be to shift or extend the growing season. For example, a short season of rainfall may preclude growing maize because it needs a long growing season. Also, the longer season varieties have greater yield potentials. A light irrigation just to cause germination and supply the limited water requirements of young plants might then bring the season of greatest water requirements into the rainy season when rainfall is available. Yields could thus be increased by lengthening the growing season with the rainy season providing the very high water requirements when plants require the most water. But that assumes that long-season, adapted varieties or hybrids are available.
When developing an irrigation system for a farmer or a community, discuss the potential risks as well as benefits. If in doubt, as for example, about the amount of water available, the optimum planting and fertilizing rates, or crops to irrigate, start with a small, pilot project so the risk is not great.
The economic feasibility of irrigation should be evaluated before any physical development actions are taken.
To perform the economic feasibility analysis, all costs and benefits must be quantified in monetary terms. The quantification may be an estimate but should be as accurate as possible. Labor should be priced in realistic monetary cost. If the work is to be done when other demands on labor are high, such as at seedbed preparation and planting time, then labor will have a higher value than when there are fewer competing demands.
Local people, involved in the analysis, can help estimate noncash costs and labor requirements for digging channels, land leveling, etc.
Section 12 presents an example of an economic analysis of a proposed irrigation project.
But many economists who have worked in developing countries with subsistence farmers think that they adhere to a principle of "aversion to risk." A unified economic framework based upon "risk aversion" is just developing. Some of the practical effects include:
· Farmers are reluctant to spend limited cash for inputs unless it has been well demonstrated that returns to repay the cash will come in one crop season.
· Farmers are reluctant to invest cash in projects like a tractor or even a draft animal because they require two or more years to return the investment.· Crops and farming practices that vary from traditional customs will be adopted slowly because people may starve when a drastic, or sometimes even a moderate, deficit of food is produced.
Labor cost evaluations are difficult in various social systems. Some projects have failed because they did not properly account for seasonal labor shortages even though there was a yearly overall labor surplus. Some projects have failed to consider the value placed on leisure time.
Other projects have been unsuccessful because they failed to account for traditional division of labor among men, women, and children. For example, if it is traditional for women to weed crops, men might expect women to handle the irrigating but other family and household responsibilities might interfere.
Economic evaluation is handled separately from some of the social factors, but social and cultural factors cannot be overlooked in arriving at a conclusion regarding the feasibility of an irrigation project.
The Peace Corps achieves its goals by:
o Promoting peace and friendship by helping peoples of other
countries meet their needs for trained manpower.
o Promoting better
understanding by Americans of other people.
o Bringing about a better
understanding of America by people of other countries.
The social factors of development are paramount in meeting the goals of the Peace Corps. Similarly, social factors involved in the community being assisted are of paramount importance if a project is to succeed and be useful over an extended period.
The PCV will probably be in one of two situations:
· Assigned to a community that has requested assistance in developing an irrigation project.
· Assigned to a community to help develop a project.
In either case, the PCV should immediately contact one or more local leaders and use them in making additional community contacts. In general, the community, rather than one farmer or family, will be involved in developing the project. If the community requested assistance, then the community learning process may begin at a different stage than if the community were selected for assistance.
After the PCV makes relevant and significant acquaintances, the next step is to hold a group meeting of all interested persons. At group meetings particularly, try to determine the knowledge and interest of all participants in the proposed project. The PCV, acting as the discussion leader, should both pose questions and serve as the technical resource person for questions from the group. The group meetings should identify interest and provide an opportunity for the community to learn some of the important technical, economic, and social factors involved in the project. If previous development projects have been attempted in the community, try to determine their characteristics and why they succeeded or failed.
Determine the role of both men and women in agriculture. If the women have an active role in crop production including gardening, make special efforts to involve them from the outset.
Project development will require use of adult learning principles and conditions. Some adult learning terms and definitions follow:
· Helping relationships--An enabling process that helps people help themselves learn and solve problems for themselves.· Learning--Changing behavior in a positive direction. Refers to learning necessary to solve practical, economic, social, and personal problems of living encountered by individual groups and communities. e Behavior, Attitudes--Ideas, values, skills, interests.
· Positive Direction--Directions that enhance the self, others, and the community.
· Goal of Learning--To enable individuals, groups, and communities to become more fully functioning, effective, and productive.
Principles of Adult Learning. When working with adults, it is imperative to plan with them, not for them. When that is not essential, practical, or possible, it should be weighed as an alternative before deciding against it.
Adults are conditioned by years of experience, some perhaps in opposition to new ideas. Moreover, most farmers in developing countries are bound by tradition and are afraid to take risks that may involve financial loss unless they are convinced that the changes are economically viable, technically feasible, and compatible with their farming and social systems.
Few, if any, practices are adopted the first time they are exposed to farmers. It takes time for them to grasp the significance of a practice and to relate it to their own conditions. The decision to adopt a practice may require many changes, some of which may be difficult to effect. The PCV should realize that farmers need to hear more about the practices from many sources over a period of time, need to see them in operation, and be able to discuss with other farmers before they try the practices. Important points to consider are:
· Learning is an experience that occurs inside the learner and is activated by the learner. (Teaching is seen as a facilitating process that assists people to explore and discover the personal meaning of events for them.)· Learning is the discovery of the personal meaning and relevance of ideas, i.e., relevance and meaningfulness are decided by the learner(s). a Learning (behavioral change) is a consequence of experience.
· Learning is a cooperative and collaborative process, e.g., "two heads are better than one." a Learning is an evolutionary process. e Learning is sometimes painful.
· One of the richest resources for learning is the learner himself or herself.
· The process of learning is both intellectual and emotional.
· The process of problem solving and learning is highly unique and individual, i.e., each person has a unique style of learning and problem solving.
· An atmosphere that encourages people to be active.· An atmosphere that promotes and facilitates an individual's discovery of the personal meaning of ideas.
· An atmosphere that emphasizes the uniquely personal and subjective nature of learning.
· An atmosphere in which differences are considered good and desirable.
· An atmosphere that consistently recognizes people's rights to make mistakes.
· An atmosphere that tolerates ambiguity.
· An atmosphere in which evaluation is a cooperative process with emphasis on self-evaluation.
· An atmosphere that encourages openness rather than concealment of self.
· An atmosphere that encourages people to trust themselves as well as external sources.
· An atmosphere in which people feel they are respected.
· An atmosphere in which people feel they are accepted.
· An atmosphere that permits confrontation.
Before any major work is started, the community should have identified the goals for the project, be very aware of the probable costs and constraints of the project, have identified the resources (human and physical) that are available and have realistic ideas about benefits from the project.
Adult learning involves modifying behavioral and procedural objectives. There emphatically is no substitute for time spent with the people of a community for a PCV to gain understanding of how the community operates. It is important that the PCV understand the community's cultural and social systems and how they influence the approach (or even the feasibility) of a community irrigation project. The complexity of initiating, designing, completing, and maintaining an irrigation system for a single farm should not be underestimated. A community irrigation project is so much more complex that it should be initiated only after very careful study, community involvement, and community support.
It is important to identify existing organizations and their leaders. Less developed countries often have long-standing groups, such as tribal organizations. It may be easier in some respects to organize programs among such integrated groups than in more sophisticated societies where even close neighbors may not know each other.
Even when there is no obvious form of social structure, such as tribal organization, a pattern of social relationship exists in a community.
The status of individuals and families is usually based on local values whether the emphasis is on wealth, land ownership, education, reverence for age, or other standards. To identify leaders in such a community, it is essential to understand local values. The leaders should be consulted when planning for they can be a strong influence in effecting change, if they themselves can be influenced. They understand the minds and feelings of the people and the success of a program depends on their support; if they are antagonized instead of being drawn in, their followers will react similarly.
Specific objectives include:
· Identifying individual and community needs.
· Identifying formal and informal community leaders. e Understanding the community decision making process.
· Identifying existing community organizations and their leaders.
· Understanding community land tenure systems and marketing structures.
· Understanding prior community cooperative ventures.
· Identifying organizations or systems in the community that depend on cooperative efforts. e Identifying community and family labor patterns.
· Understanding sex differences in labor, management, and decision making within the family system.
You can obtain much more valuable detail regarding social and educational factors by consulting the Peace Corps publication "Agricultural Extension" which is available from the Information Collection and Exchange.
Resources available to support an irrigation project must be identified before a project is started. The resources include, but are not necessarily limited to:
· Demonstrated willingness of the community to carry out activities requiring a high degree of cooperation.· Demonstrated willingness of some farmers to accept new technologies.
· Schools, adult education or agricultural extension programs where farmers may become acquainted with and keep up-to-date on new agricultural technologies.
· Dependable credit sources, if needed, where farmers may obtain credit to finance the cost of such inputs as fertilizer.
· Dependable nearby sources of such inputs as seed, fertilizer, and pesticides.
· Availability of transportation for inputs.
· Availability of markets and transportation if increased production needs to go beyond local markets.
· Availability of equipment, machinery, and repair facilities if needed to implement the project.
· Fuel supply if new mechanical power sources are required.
· Crop storage and processing facilities if new crops are to be introduced, e.g., rice.
· Relevant weather data.
· Labor availability.
Some of these items are more crucial than others in a particular situation. The PCV in discussions with local farmers will have to decide which are critical and what corrective steps are required to correct them before initiating a project
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