Introduction to Technology Transfer

Abstract

For national programs working to establish sustainable agriculture in a deficit moisture area, supplemental irrigation can be a blessing. In Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, and Morocco, analogous experiences can be found of increased yields and stabilized production applying supplemental irrigation — the blessings of augmented rainfall. Why? At high elevations in Turkey, for example, the average yield is 1.7 t/ha from rainfed spring wheat in the Konya Province of the Central Anatolia Region; but, it increases to 3.75 t/ha with supplemental irrigation. For rainfed barley, the average yield is 1.7 t/ha but is 4.0 t/ha with supplemental irrigation. In both cases, to achieve more than double the yields, a mere 20 mm of water was added to aid germination in the fall and, later in the spring, an application of 30 mm was added.