A STUDY ON THE IRRIGATION METHODS USED BY THE FARMERS IN KALUTHAWALAI, BATTICALOA

Abstract

A study was caried out to identify the irrigation methods used by farmers in Kaluthawalai village, Batticaloa. Using structured questionnaires, data on socioeconomic status of farmers and farming were collected from randomly selected 60 farmers through personal interview. The collected data were analyzed by using the Minitab package. The results revealed that the average age of vegetable farmers was 35-55 years old, 91.67% of farmers were male and 8.33% of farmers were female. Most of the farms having sandy loam soil and most of the farmers (61.77%) are using manual irrigation method. Few numbers (38.33%) of farmers are using the sprinkler irrigation method. Lack of technological knowledge might be the reason for these issues. The problems faced by the farmers who are using manual irrigation method were high requirement of water, water wastage and electricity cost. The problem faced by the farmers who are using sprinkler irrigation method was high initial cost. While results show that usage of springer irrigation helps farmers to reduce cost of production by minimizing electricity consumption. Springer method of irrigation is a cost-effective method of irrigation and water usage efficiency is also high in this method.