Falls Church, Va. - The Irrigation Association went to Jamaica to teach efficient irrigation techniques to extension agents who will help Caribbean farmers grow vegetables and attain greater self sufficiency.
Irrigation Association education director Dennis McKernan and regional authorized instructor Ron Sneed taught the Agricultural Irrigation Specialist course to extension agents from several Caribbean territories as part of a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization program.
"Water management as far as the FAO is concerned is a major strategy towards achieving the objectives of food security and poverty alleviation," says Jamaica's FAO representative Dunstan Campbell at the opening of the five-day workshop, which also included presentations from each of the 14 participating countries and field visits to a dam and farms that use small-scale irrigation on vegetables.
McKernan said the event provided a quality educational experience for everyone involved.
"You can really see the success that these small-scale irrigation systems are having on vegetable production and personal empowerment for rural Jamaican farmers," McKernan says.
The Agricultural Irrigation Specialist course is designed for managers of on-farm irrigation systems. It covers surface irrigation methods, furrow and pressurized systems, including segments on evapotranspiration, scheduling techniques and how efficiency and uniformity influence irrigation scheduling.