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At a time when water is becoming increasingly scarce and rain fed agriculture becoming constantly unreliable, it has become necessary to design and have good irrigation schemes that do not waste water, cause leaching of plant nutrients and increase salinity, but also reduce runoff to a reasonable level. The aim of the study was to evaluate and enhance the performance of furrow irrigation systems by matching the discharge rates to appropriate slopes and soil types. The study showed that an effective irrigation system could be achieved if proper land grading is established and water is made to run for 67 minutes at a rate of 0.72lit/sec in a sandy loam soil and a climatic condition as pertains in the Cape Coast area. At this rate, the effective maximum furrow length is 55 metres. Irrigation engineers, Soil Conservation Technicians, Agricultural Extension Workers, and other professional people working in irrigation and agriculture in general should find the evaluation method useful in helping farmers attain greater efficiency in irrigation.

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Richard Edenkema Yankey was born on the 28th of June 1980 at Tikobo 1, Ghana. He had his secondary school education at Aggrey Mem. in Cape Coast Ghana. he was awarded the WAEC national best agric. student in 1998. He holds a BSc. in Agricultural Science and an M.Phil. in Irrigation Technology. He is married to Naa Odey Bill.

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