Agricultural Irrigation South Africa

• Agricultural Irrigation South Africa: one request, replies from independent irrigation contractors.
• Tell us once what you need: farm irrigation design, a new system, drip, pivots, sprinklers, pumps, repairs or maintenance.
• Agri irrigation contractors who cover your area reply with availability and prices, and you compare them yourself.
• This website does not design, supply or install irrigation.
• The contractor you hire does the work and sets its own terms.

What Contractors Quote For

Not every contractor does every type of work, so describe the job clearly when you request quotations.

How It Works

1. Request. You give your town or district, the crop, the hectares, your water source and the work you need.
2. Match. Your request goes to independent irrigation contractors that may cover your area.
3. Quote. Contractors reply with availability and a price, or ask to visit the farm first.
4. Compare. You check the design basis, equipment brands, flow, pressure, power use and timing side by side.
5. Hire. You hire the contractor you choose, or nobody. There is no obligation.
6. Install. The contractor installs, pressure-tests and commissions the system and shows you how to run it.

Only pay a deposit against a written quotation.

Farm Irrigation Systems

• Drip. Water to each plant through emitters. Lowest losses, needs good filtration. Orchards, vines, vegetables and tunnels.
• Micro-sprinklers. Small sprinklers under trees that wet a wider area than drip. Common in orchards and nurseries.
• Centre pivots. Self-propelled machines that irrigate a circle. Low labour on large, fairly flat fields of grain, pasture and vegetables.
• Overhead sprinklers. Dragline, movable or permanent sprinklers. Lower capital cost, more labour and higher pumping pressure.
• Linears and travellers. Linear moves for long rectangular fields, and hose-reel travellers for odd-shaped or rotated land.

Water, Pumps and Filtration

• Water source. Borehole, river, dam, canal or irrigation scheme. The available flow sets how many hectares you can irrigate at once.
• Water quality. Sand, algae, iron and salts decide the filtration and can block emitters if ignored.
• Pumping. The pump must match the flow and total pressure the design needs. Electricity is one of the biggest running costs.
• Power. Eskom supply, a generator or solar. Solar pumping works best when water can be stored in a dam or tank.

A good quotation states the design flow, pressure and pump power, not just a total price.

Agricultural Irrigation Prices at a Glance

Ballpark prices so you can sanity-check a quotation. They are not quotations and no contractor is bound by them.

Hectares, crop, water source, pumping head, pipe distances and power supply set the final price.

What to Include in Your Request

• Your town or farming district.
• The crop and the area to irrigate in hectares.
• Your water source and, if known, the available flow in m³/h or litres per second.
• Whether it is a new system, an extension or a repair.
• The power supply at the pump site.
• When you need the work done, for example before planting.
• Photos, if the form or WhatsApp lets you send them.

Availability

Availability depends on your area, the size of the job and the season. Contractors are independent and decide which jobs they take on, so not every request can be matched. Most contractors visit the farm before giving a firm price on a new system.

Comparing Contractors

Whoever you consider, compare like with like:

• Design basis. Hectares per block, application rate, system flow and operating pressure.
• Equipment. Brands and models of pipe, emitters, sprinklers, filters, valves and pumps.
• Running cost. Pump power in kW and the hours needed to irrigate each block.
• Scope. Trenching, backfilling, electrical work, commissioning and training.
• Track record. Systems they have installed on similar farms and contactable references.
• Price terms. VAT, deposit, delivery, what counts as an extra and the warranty on parts and workmanship.

Frequently Asked Questions