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Country Water Action: Nepal
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Until the 1990s, drip irrigation method was beyond the reach of common farmers. It was originally developed in Israel in the early 1950s and has been widely adopted in the United States, Australia, Europe and India.
For developing countries and smaller scale farmers there, the investment cost was too high and the management system too complex. Drip irrigation was also primarily used to boost production of high value crops, which are rarely available to low-income farmers, or economically practical for kitchen gardens.
In the early 1980s, the Government of Nepal and key development agencies created micro-versions of profitable, larger-scale irrigation methods. They had four methods in mind: sprinkler, drip, shallow tube well and the treadle pump. At this time, ADB developed a low-cost drip system and tested it in Morang district in the 1980s.
It was not until 1994, though, that micro-drip irrigation experienced real momentum when ADB teamed up with IDE to develop the drip system. IDE soon became the leading developer and promoter of low-cost micro-drip systems, as well as other micro-irrigation methods.
As developed by IDE, micro-drip irrigation is available to farmers as a kit in three sizes, with cost ranging between US$13 - US$32. The kit is usually introduced to farmers through projects, such as IDE's or the recent ADB pilot project in Kaski district.
The kit includes a 50-liter overhead tank and a system of hoses that line the garden. Pin-size holes in the hose water the soil near the crops. The overhead tank that supplies the water may be connected to a water source or filled by hauling water from the nearest tap stand.
IDE helps farmers install the kit and teaches them how to operate, maintain and repair it. A kit takes between 3-5 days to install, and within one day of training and demonstration, most farmers know how to help others do the same.
Five conditions optimize drip irrigation:
For the past 10 years, IDE has been partnering with local and international NGOs and private entrepreneurs to bring micro-drip irrigation kits to the small-scale farmers in the hill districts of Nepal, where irrigation water is scarce and poverty widespread.
In the past 10 years, the drip irrigation system has spread to 32 hill districts (mostly in Western and Mid-western development regions), covering 5,638 farm householders. Drip irrigation is still uncommon in the more impoverished and extremely remote regions of Central, Eastern and Far-western districts, where some terrain is impassible by vehicle and a Maoist insurgency is present.
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