Garissa University is on the verge of becoming the pioneers of a low-cost irrigation system.
The project being undertaken by a team of senior academic researchers led by Professor Julius Huho of Garissa University college and Dr. Silke Stöbers of Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (HUB) in Germany, is expected to help locals cope with the life-threatening effects of the drought that has been persistent in the region.
Funded by HUB, the project dubbed the Green River Principle (GRP) was implemented in September 2017 at the Garissa University and is now almost reaching completion. The GRP is a low-tech and low-cost innovative subsurface irrigation systems that make use of waste plastic bottles as irrigation pipes.
The plastic pipes are wrapped with a plastic foil or agro-nets to regulate the flow of water.
According to Huho, the irrigation system is easy to put up, very affordable and easily accessible to small-scale farmers especially subsistence farmers with medium to low investment capacities.
"Once erected, the irrigation system has a lifespan of close to 5 years. As a subterranean irrigation system, it requires minimal amounts of water because of reduced rates of evaporation," Huho disclosed to this writer.
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