Farmers Urged to Conserve Water to Mitigate Effects of Drought

Farmers are being encouraged to conserve water as part of drought mitigation strategies during the dry season.

With normal to below normal rainfall expected over the upcoming weeks, methods of keeping crops well-watered are crucial for farmers to preserve their investments.

Senior Plant Health and Food Safety Officer with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Francine Webb, says techniques such as mulching and the use of drip irrigation are important at this time.

Farmers can use both vegetative and grass mulch as well as plastic mulch.

“These can help in increasing your crop yields and directing limited water resources where it is needed most – to the roots of plants. If you can, we also encourage that farmers irrigate early in the morning or late in the evenings, so that the plants are making the most use of the water at that point in time, when the risk for loss is less,” Ms. Webb told JIS News in a recent interview.

“You also want to make sure that there’s a lower chance for wind; also, at those points you’ll have lower evaporation rates as well, so the plant will be better able to make more use of the water that you would give them,” she added.

Ms. Webb is imploring farmers to capitalise on rain when it does fall, by capturing runoff in ponds, tanks or in reservoirs.

“At RADA, we have been involved in the distribution of black tanks, ensuring that you have water there, so that when it is needed you can have it. I cannot overemphasise that use of the water efficiently is going to be critical. Ensure you check your pipes, hoses and irrigation systems to make sure that they are working efficiently, and to fix any leaks that you have, so that you prevent any water wastage,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Webb is also reminding livestock owners to pay special attention to their animals at this time.

“Creating areas for them to have shade is going to be important to help reduce the level of stress on the animals as well,” she said.