Oficina Regional de la FAO para América Latina y el Caribe |

IRRIGATION IN GRENADA

Climate

Grenada's climate can be classified as semi-tropical with a marked dry season from January to May and a wet season running from June to December. Spatial variations in annual rainfall range from about 1 500 mm to more than 5 000 mm, with an average totalling 2 350 mm.

Water Resources

Water resources originate mainly from a system of permanent streams and rivers but there is some groundwater available from the limestone areas along the northwest coast. The entire population (rural and urban) has access to the domestic water supply. About 80 percent of the island is connected to the public water supply, 7 percent to standpipes while the remainder is supplied from rain water catchments. However, there is very little available from that supply that can be diverted to agriculture.

Irrigation and drainage development

Irrigated agriculture is largely undeveloped in Grenada. The irrigation potential has not been quantified and though there is water available from a number of surface and groundwater sources, these sources have not been tapped nor is the extent of this resource known. Currently for the island of Grenada alone, a total of 218.5 ha, or 1.5% of the area under cultivation, is under irrigation as compared to 4.8 ha in 1973. Micro-irrigation is utilized in more than 90% of the area, the remaining area being under sprinkler irrigation. Crops grown under irrigation include mainly vegetables (90%), fruit trees and grapes (5%), cut flowers (2%) and maize, roots, tubers and pulses (3%). Of the irrigated area, less than 1% is from river diversion, 6.5% from reservoirs while the remainder is from direct pumping from rivers. There is one limiting factor to the development of irrigation that has so far been observed, and that is that significant amounts of arable land are located in areas where there is no available water source, either domestic or otherwise. Costs for sprinkler and micro-irrigation systems are 6 200 and 8 700 US$/ha respectively.

Trends in water resources management

There is growing recognition of the potential importance of irrigation to Grenada's agricultural sector. Within the banana industry, with the recognition of a potential increase in yield averaging from 17 to 25 t/ha, investment in irrigation is being encouraged. In addition, attempts to encourage a more diversified agricultural production have resulted in a number of large estates being subdivided and made available to small farmers. As these farmers increasingly move into vegetable and cut flower production, this will necessarily create a greater need for supplementary irrigation to ensure year-round production.