Irrigation & Drainage Systems Engineering

This research was carried out in a greenhouse located at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Nyankpala, Northern Region of Ghana from June to September, 2022. The study compared the yield obtainable with greenhouse cucumber grown on soil with cocopeat and soil - biochar mixture under irrigation regimes. The experiment was a 3 x 3 factorial study laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments consisted of irrigation regimes (100% ETc, 75% ETc, 50% ETc) and growth media including (Soil (So), Soil plus Charred rice husk (So + CRH) and Cocopeat (CP)). Data was collected on cucumber yield and yield parameters. The result of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed 100% ETc supported optimum yield of greenhouse cucumber. Flower count was highest for CP – grown plants irrigated at 100% ETc while the highest flower abortion occurred on plants grown on So + CRH at 75% ETc. Plants irrigated at 100% ETc gave the highest yield of 116.3 t/ha while those irrigated at 50% ETc gave the lowest yield of 37.8 t/ha. Yield obtained from plants irrigated at 75% ETc (70.6 t/ha) was similar to that obtained at 100% ETc; It is therefore recommended for greenhouse cucumber farmers in northern Ghana to irrigate at 75% ETc thereby saving water and optimizing yield. More work could be done on combination of CP and CRH for greenhouse cucumber production.

Due to climate change, water scarcity and the need for more water resources are growing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, smallholder farmers may be unable to effectively manage irrigation water for sustainable crop production due to a lack of information and access to irrigation scheduling decision support tools. Wetting Front Detector (WFD) is one of the simple, low-cost, and user-friendly soil water monitoring tools that have been developed to overcome the complexity of irrigation scheduling. However, the tools' commercial viability is contingent on effective demand for the services. The Wetting Front Detector's (WFD) information has an impact on farmers' willingness to pay (WTP), according to this study. First, we find that 98% of farmers reported a WTP higher than zero and that approximately 57% of farmers have information regarding the WFD. Second, although most farmers are willing to pay a small fee for the WFD, they are extremely price-sensitive. Thirdly, after taking into account differences between irrigation communities, irrigation data increases farmers' WTP for WFD by $6. According to a heterogeneity analysis, women, young people, and those with high incomes have higher WTP than men, adults, and those with low incomes. The findings suggest that future adoption will rise as a result of price subsidies and increased awareness of the new irrigation scheduling tool.