Assessment of operational performance of a furrow irrigation system of Bacita Sugar Company

This paper investigates the operational performances of a furrow irrigation system at the sugarcane plantation of the Nigerian Sugar Company Bacita, Kwara State. The volume balance method was adopted to determine infiltration of water into the furrows. The study indicated that the soil intake characteristics equation could be expressed as I = 149.63 T0.545. The irrigation time and effective furrow length were estimated to be 12 hr and 170 m respectively. The application and potential efficiences were determined to be 71% and 78% respectively. The two efficiencies indicate fairly good management of the furrow irrigation system. However, the relationship between the furrow length and the time taken by the irrigation water to advance along a furrow is best fitted by a polynomial function and represented by L = -0.0029T2 + 1.4289T + 4.9428. Also, the relationship between the accumulated depth and the elasped time is best fitted by a polynomial function (D = -0.0009T2 + 0.4695T + 27.88). This shows that there is no linear relationship between furrow length and time and accumulated depth and elasped time.