Low Cost Drip Irrigation From Silicon Valley

This is a very promising story about a very low cost drip irrigation system, DripTech from Palo Alto, for small farm plot farmers around the world (India, china, etc.)

I grew up in a home overlooking small plot agricultural fields where they were growing crops like: Turmeric, Sugar Cane and Rice using the water from a canal off of the river Cauveri. During the monsoon rains and in the wet season, when there would be water in the canal, the field would be green and fertile. During the dry years, the talk of the community around us would be about when the government was going to release water in the canal. The water came from Mettur Dam in the river Cauveri.

Later on, the government subsidized electricity for the water pumps and the pumps would irrigate the land with water from Bore wells. Clearly, I could see a lot of wasted water compared to the drip and sprinkler irrigated farms that I see in California.

There is already a lot of water wars in southern india. More than 80% of the farmers in india are small plot farmers owning 1-5 hectares of land with average plot size around 1 hectare. Their monthly income is between Rs 1500 and Rs 8300. Cost of this system can be as low as Rs 6500.

If this approach takes root (no pun intended) this can be really really good for the small farmers.