Smart water use management for higher crop yield

Irrigated farms are the biggest consumers of fresh water in the Mediterranean region. In close collaboration with farmers, EU-funded scientists are developing water management tools and techniques for sustainable irrigation.

The EU-funded project ''Sustainable use of irrigation water in the Mediterranean region'' (SIRRIMED) was designed to enable increasing crop productivity in the face of scarce water resources. Researchers are addressing the issue at the farm, irrigation district and watershed level.

Scientists have evaluated various types of irrigation scheduling techniques and environmental sensing tools on open crops and greenhouse tomatoes. As a result, several deficit irrigation (DI) strategies were shown to increase crop water productivity (WP) by 20–50 % with no significant effect on the quality or quantity of produce. The DI strategies focused on irrigation during drought-sensitive times with minimal to no irrigation when rainfall was adequate. Employing these schemes showed savings of 5–30 % of irrigation water typically consumed. Covering water reservoirs was a simple and effective measure to reduce evaporation water loss by 80 % and had the additional benefit of reducing algae growth.

Excellent collaboration with local growers and other stakeholders has been a key pillar of the project''s success. Numerous meetings have been held to identify and prioritise problems and goals at the farm and district levels. Databases of information collected will be analysed in depth in the coming months. Cooperation has also led to the acquisition of critical field data needed to calibrate and validate tools for the district information system (DIS). The DIS combines field data with remote satellite images to simulate the distribution and allocation of water resources for effective daily scheduling as well as strategic long-term planning.

A complementary watershed information system (WIS) will enable prediction of the effects of irrigation water use on water resources downstream of the irrigation districts. The WIS will thus facilitate development of water governance policies that achieve an effective balance between management of resources and provision of services.

SIRRIMED represents an important collaboration among scientists, farmers and other stakeholders in an effort to reduce irrigation water consumption while increasing crop productivity and quality in the Mediterranean. The integrated water irrigation management (IWIM) will enable all stakeholders to get on board for sustainable water management.

Related link:
http://cordis.europa.eu