Soils Properties, Irrigation Suitability and Okra Productivity

In the recent past, productivity of agricultural soils worldwide was on the decline. This prompted the fall of per capita availability of food grain from 510 g per day in 1991 to 463 g per day by 2004. These declining trends across the world were attributed to ever growing population, lowered incomes of populous nations, discovery of new uses such as bio-fuels from agricultural products, and weather based abnormalities associated with climate change often culminating in decline in rainfall (Sidhu and Kamal, 2007). The sustainable development of a region involves not only protection and reclamation of natural resources particularly soil and land, but also a scientific basis for the management of the environment. Resources should be managed in a sustainable manner. Having examined issues involved in irrigation, for example, water supply and remembering that no matter what we do to improve supply, water itself is inadequate in quantity and quality (Mudiare, 2007). It is therefore necessary to look into how to manage the limited supply of water for greater benefits of the farmers.