Pitcher irrigation (summary)
The growing world population, water shortage, and climate change force people to rethink how to produce food.
Crops need water yet it is becoming a scarce resource. All the modern water sprinkler and drip irrigation systems may save about half of water from flood irrigation. The initial installation cost is high. Farmers need to learn new skills to use new irrigation systems. In many parts of the world, every drop of water counts. Pitcher irrigation is a cheap way to save water being used for thousands of years. It is highly useful to grow vegetables and fruits in arid and semi-arid areas. It requires less water than other irrigation systems. It can be used in dry areas, steep slopes and salty in fields.
Preparation
Dig pits and mix the soils from the pits with double the amount of compost. Put the pitchers in the ground leaving the lids above ground. Fill up the space around the pot with a mixture of soil and compost or just the soil.
Fill the pitchers with water every few days or when they are dry. Every few weeks, mix a litre of liquid broth from motar in the water. With pitcher irrigation, crops can be more harvested per drop.
