Design and simulation of a solar powered semi portable sprinkler irrigation system for tomatoes.

Abstract

This study was conducted to design an effective solar powered semi portable sprinkler irrigation system that should be adopted for tomato cultivation so as to keep production continuous even during the dry seasons of the tropical climate of Uganda especially west Nile. The major components of the irrigation system are the sprinklers movable lateral pipes, fixed sub-main pipes, and fixed main pipes and solar pumping unit. The use of movable lateral pipes lowers the total initial investment of irrigation by up to about 50%. Design parameters had to be determined so as to design and effective irrigation system for the. target area and these were, crop water requirement of tomatoes, soil infiltration rate, and the topography of the field. The semi-portable sprinkler irrigation system was designed for an area of 1.08 Ha, having a system capacity of 3.775 per second and irrigation frequency of 7 days. A computer simulation was also run to analyze the system performance, and the results showed that for the pump selected, the system would perform normally. Finally, and economic analysis was carried out using the payback period and net present value. This showed that if the system is used effectively with proper agronomic practices, the cost of investment will be regained in the first year. Additionally, the same-system can also be used for other crops other than tomatoes with a little alteration in the scheduling and time of Operation.