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Irrigation performance assessment has been conducted at the Baixo Acarau Irrigation District, Ceará, Brazil. The water source is the Acaraú River. Water is delivered through open channels and pumped on-farm to be applied with drip/trickle and micro-sprinkler systems. The district covers 8,335 hectares, divided into lots of large, medium and small sizes. The main crops are coconut and banana. In 2014, a comprehensive evaluation of the entire farm irrigation systems was conducted in a sample of 40 8-ha family lots. The evaluations included determinations of motor-pump efficiency based on flow rate measurements with portable ultrasonic flow meter, pressure measurements at the pump outlet, estimation of local head losses, and determinations of power consumption based on voltage and current intensity measurements. Pumping efficiency was overall poor. The consequences in terms of electricity cost and irrigation system performance should be examined. The existence of good-performing motor pumps gives hope for using benchmarking as technique for participatory learning and improvement.
