Benefits and consequences of technology

Benefits and consequences of technology.

Irrigation technology. Food security ensure that all people in the world both in rural and in urban areas have access to nutritious and adequate food throughout the year. Inadequate supply or access to water is one of the challenges that limit production of food consequently leading to poverty and also hunger especially in developing countries. Practices that help conserve and manage water should be taught to all households. Sustainable irrigation should be a priority to both developed and developing countries such that there is an increase in food production and extreme poverty and hunger is alleviated. There are various techniques that can be used to manage water and they include water harvesting, low-lift pumps and treadle pumps among others.

Water harvesting involves collecting rain water from gutters to tanks or other storage equipment then the water is used to irrigate crops and trees in small scale plantations. This will in turn lead to increase in food production and this method has been applied in developing countries such as Kenya and Sudan. The low-lift pumps involve having cheap pumps or dependable motors that use fuel and are connected to domestic water then used for irrigation. Also used for small- scale irrigation, they are easy to install and operate and are therefore favorable to increase production of food. Treadle pumps are walking pumps that have been used by women in Asia to increase production even in dry seasons. These pumps are used to generate water for drinking and are available at affordable prices. Poor irrigation technology could lead to destruction of nutrients in soil, mismanagement of water and a threat to food security.

Irrigation technology enables farmers to optimize on the usage of water, ensures that crops are supplied with adequate water and optimizing on the resources that promote food production. This technology enables easy of watering crops without having to manually water especially in the morning such that the water does not evaporate. Modern technology irrigation systems help farmers to improve on crop production as well as marketing their food products. The technology helps developing countries to stop relying on rain water for them to produce crop and therefore when farmers are educated on the various irrigation strategies that they could apply that help conserve water as they increase food production.

Some of the negative uses of irrigation technology include excess seepage of water which could lead to waterlogging thus saturating the root zone of the crops. Also irrigation projects could be a bit expensive for the farmers due to purchasing equipment. The benefits of irrigation technology overweigh the negative consequences because irrigation is a way of ensuring food security and water management. It ensures that there is harvesting even when it is not the rainy season and therefore there is constant supply of food in the country. When the government ensures that farmers are well educated on irrigation strategies then the country could have food security, whether irrigation is practiced on small scale or large scale basis, throughout the year.

REFERENCE

Turral, H. B. (2011). Climate change, water and food security. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.