Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
not know when the wells were constructed. The initial purpose for the
construction of permanent shallow wells in many instances was for the
provision of domestic water, but with time people started using them for
backyard irrigation during the dry season which later became part of its
main uses. This development was identified in both Ghana and Burkina
Faso.
This technology is made up of a permanently constructed well. The well is
either lined with concrete, sandcrete or stones to stabilise the walls or is
unlined. Wells having lined walls have the walls raised above the ground level
to prevent runoff and silt from entering the wells. This technology is
practised by landowners who live in areas with a high groundwater table but
not necessarily near a stream. They usually fence their farms from the
invasion of livestock and also to protect livestock from falling into the well. A
major advantage with this source of water is that farmers can start their dry
season irrigation early and also that they use the water source for
supplementary irrigation during dry spells in the rainy season.
Infrastructure and Irrigation Technology (Water abstraction,
transportation and application)
Permanent shallow wells are constructed and lined to last long and are used
for irrigation and domestic purposes. However some of these wells are
unlined but are still maintained in order for them to last long. Owners of
such wells have plans to line the wells but complain about lack of funds.
Apart from the digging cost which is usually around $40/well of 8m depth,
farmers spend an extra $110 in lining the well. Generally, one well can
irrigate a garden of about 0.02ha.
The water-lifting mechanism used here is mostly the rope and bucket method
(Figure 5.4)
. Similar to the temporal shallow well technologies (see section
5.3.5), farmers irrigate their crops based on the number of buckets/bed/crop.
Bucket sizes used for watering usually range between 8L and 14L in volume.
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