This poster provides updates for the project called "Empowering women vegetable growers with drip irrigation," led by Manuel Reyes of North Carolina A&T State University.
The project hypothesis: "Conservation agriculture and drip irrigation will decrease labor, increase yield and income, and improve soil health." The project site: five women farmers in Siem Reap with area of 100 m2 divided into 4 plots.
The poster shares images of conventional watering, drip irrigation, tilled agriculture, and conservation agriculture.
The project used four treatments (Randomized Complete Block Design with five replications):
- T – Tilled
- TD – Tilled with drip irrigation
- CA - Conservation agriculture
- CAD- Conservation agriculture with drip irrigation
Project results:
- Yield - lowest TD and highest CA, not significant at 5%
- Net income – highest CA, depreciated cost of tank and drip with drip life shorter in tilled systems
- Labor – least labor in CAD with drip as key; in CA, labor is saved by not tilling but labor is added by addition of mulch and cover crop
Impact: Reduced labor and income of $350 in 100 m2, per capita income is $944
This poster was part of the Horticulture Innovation Lab 2014 Annual Meeting, which took place March 17-21, 2014 in Hotel Real Intercontinental, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The poster is supplemented by an additional handout that reviews the project introduction, methods, results, discussion, summary and conclusion.
