DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE SELF-WATERING RAISED SOIL BED SUITABLE FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE

Abstract

A portable raised soil bed integrated with a self-regulated irrigation system was designed, developed and evaluated. The system is most suited to urban settings where arable soils are scarce to locate and most times too expensive to purchase. The system was evaluated with Palm fruit fibre. Palm fruit fibre filled to thickness of 0.15m when saturated was observed to release moisture throughout the entire 0.20cm thickness of the overlaying soil at an application efficiency of 65%, fibre efficiency of 18% and overall efficiency of 12%. It was established from the soil moisture data recorded at different depths in the soil profile that the system provided subsurface irrigation sufficient for vegetable growth and is also efficiently self-regulated as no case of moisture overflow or flooding at the surface of the soil profile was recorded.