Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Bio-physical features
A significant feature of the Vea and Tono irrigation schemes is that the
projects have been developed on both sides of the river valley. The cropping
areas are divided 50:50 between upland and lowland areas. Uplands are
sloping areas of light coarse textured free draining soils and the plots are
designed for furrow irrigation. Crops grown in upland plots include tomatoes,
onions, millet, pepper, groundnuts, sorghum and maize.
Lowlands are the more level areas of heavier textured soils adjacent to the
old river course. These lowlands are used for rice production and irrigation
method is by basin flooding.
During the dry season, farmers depend on irrigation to cultivate paddy rice,
onions, tomatoes, soybean and pepper. In the wet season the farmers depend
on rain water and supplementary irrigation (only in Tono) for their rice,
groundnut, millet/sorghum, cowpea and maize.
Water management
Water supply to the irrigation scheme is controlled by management. There
are two main seasons, the dry season irrigation (November to April) which
has full-scale irrigation and the rainy season (May to October) which has
supplementary irrigation.
Crops cultivated in the irrigation schemes include rice (two crops/year),
vegetables (tomatoes, onions), soybeans, millet, sorghum, maize, cowpeas
and groundnuts. Farmers have to contribute to the costs of services and
maintenance by payment of a development levy (wet season) and an
irrigation water levy (dry season). The wet season development levy is
charged per farm area irrespective of crop type (US$28/ha), but the dry
season irrigation water levy depends on the crop irrigated
(Tomato=US$56/ha, Rice=US$42/ha and Leafy vegetables=US$28/ha).
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