A Study Comparing the Impacts of Surface Irrigation and Localized

Irrigation (Drip Irrigation)

Here in the Philippines basing on the studies conducted by

adb.org, agriculture has been considered as the primary sector of the

economy. It has contributed 19.1 % of the Gross Domestic Product and

has provided employment for about 36.7% of the labor force. It is also

a factor that primarily affects the economic well-being of the country

like in determining the employment rate, total food supply available,

economic activity, and the exporting activities. Indeed agriculture

takes a major part in the growth of the Philippines, the very reason

why the government allots so many budgets when it comes to

resolving agricultural matters like for example in putting up irrigation

systems or schemes.

In general, the government sets aside annual funds for the

rehabilitation and improvement of the irrigation for almost 3 percent or

27, 000 hectares. Irrigation development is highest in Luzon containing

approximately 51.1 percent of the total irrigated land followed by

Mindanao with 38.7 percent and Visayas with 10.2 percent.

Development of irrigation systems is very important because through

these developments the country could minimize the risk of crop failure

by stabilizing the level of water supply and maximize the crop

productivity. There are various elements considered in constructing an

irrigation system like size of project, budget, type of landscape,

availability and source of water, needed flow rate and pressure,

sprinkler selection and layout, lateral layout, and controller selection

Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil. Sources

of irrigation water can be groundwater extracted from springs or by

using wells, surface water withdrawn from rivers, lakes or reservoirs or

non-conventional sources Irrigation systems are designed to maximize

the benefits derived from these watersheds. Irrigation systems are also

used for dust suppression, disposal of sewage, and in mining. There

are various irrigation systems namely drip, surface, sprinklers,

localized, solar-powered, pump, center pivot, etc. In this study, the

researchers would only be focusing on the two most commonly used

mode of irrigation system used in Negros Occidental: drip and surface.

Drip irrigation system, also known as micro-irrigation is simply a

system that brings and distributes water through the use of flexible

pipes by slowly discharging it through drippers near the plants (Dr.

Ella, 2009). It is also considered as another option in watering high-

vale crops. This kind of irrigation system is very useful to those areas

where there is very limited supply of water particularly here in Negros

Occidental that is currently experiencing the El Niño phenomenon.

Basing on the study conducted by Dr. Victor Ella of the Institute of

Agricultural Engineering at UP Los Baños, drip irrigation is very suitable

to a wide variety of crops, soil, topography and climate that can

provide remarkable results: higher crop yield, and relatively large

production size. In one of their experiments, drip irrigated field could

produce 4.5 kg/ sqm of cabbage whereas compared to without the

system only produced 2.4 kg / sqm. These observations were

seconded by a two year study conducted by Stanford University in

2007. The results of the study were very remarkable. From the

average of 1.9 metric tons of produce per month it has increased to

about eighteen percent (18 %) from the original quantity.

Surface irrigation on the other hand is considered as the

Philippine’s most common irrigation system. Surface Irrigation is a

water system wherein water moves over and across the land by simple

gravity flow in order to wet it and to infiltrate into the soil.This water

system often seen in terraced rice fields, where the method is used to

flood or control the level of water in each distinct field. In some cases,

the water is pumped, or lifted by human or animal power to the level of

the land.