2022 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 81
Irrigation is essential for crop cultivation in dry and semi-arid areas with limited rainfall and water resources. Efficient and effective use of water resources is required but saving irrigation water is important. The study area is in Ali Faren farm located in west of Djibouti which lies in the Horn of Africa. Djibouti is a very dry region with annual rainfall of about 150 mm and an average annual temperature of 28.6°C. Due to such meteorological conditions, water resources depend mostly on groundwater, and this makes water extremely scare. Therefore, water saving in the agricultural field is indispensable.
This study aims at effective and efficient use of irrigation water in Djibouti. The appropriate irrigation water for tomato cultivation were estimated using CROPWAT provided by FAO and observed meteorological data at Ali Faren farm in Djibouti. The observed meteorological data include air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and sunshine hour. The conditions required for calculating the amount of irrigation water were medium loam soil texture based on the laboratory results of soil particle size test, and the tomato cultivation period from October to March according to the local farmers.
The result showed that the average monthly reference evapotranspiration was 5.7 mm/day annually. Reference Evapotranspiration was maximum in July with 7.9 mm/day and minimum in December with 3.9 mm/day. It was observed that the effective rainfall from October to March was 55.2 mm which corresponds to the local tomato cultivation period. Additionally, the required water amount for tomato crops varied between 2.9 to 4.2 mm/day.
Finally, the appropriate irrigation area of this farm will be determined based on the measured amount of groundwater discharge at an existing well and the estimated irrigation water amount.
