Smart phones bring smart watering
Smart phones bring smart watering
When Haji Nazeer Ahman Qazi opened his cell phone, he received a text message that would help him manage the ten acres of wheat growing on his farm near Sargodha, Pakistan. The text message, which begins with "Dear Farmer Friend," says that 1.3 centimeters (0.5 inches) of rain is expected in your area next week. Those few words would help you save water and improve the yield of your crops.
"Considering the expected rain and water consumption last week, I skipped my last irrigation for wheat," Qazi said. "The rain forecast proved to be correct, which not only saved my irrigation but also protected me [my] wheat by waterlogging, as suffered by nearby farmers. "
Qazi is one of 20,000 farmers who receive weekly text messages from Pakistan Research Council on Water Resources (PCRWR). The notifications, based in part on NASA's satellite data, provide information on current and future weather conditions, as well as warnings on how to irrigate certain crops. The texts are designed to help prevent a serious problem facing Pakistani farmers: excess water.
"Farmers are delivering 40 to 50 percent more water than is needed," said Faisal Hossain, the head of the Sustainability, satellites, water and environment. (SASWE) research group at the University of Washington. "The excess water comes from what they have learned from their parents and grandparents, from a time when water was abundant."
Hossain and his colleagues are collaborating with the PCRWR to analyze satellite data, soil measurements and weather models to calculate the amount of water the various crops will need and the probability of obtaining them. The PCRWR irrigation advisory system, initially funded by NASA Applied Science Program, distributes this information through text alerts with simple messages such as: "We would like to inform you that the need for irrigation for your banana crop was 2 inches during the past week". Each simple message is derived from a complex analysis of numerous meteorological variables.
The maps on this page show one of those variables, evapotranspiration, which is an indication of the amount of water vapor that is removed by sunlight and wind from the soil and from the leaves of the plants. The team of Hossain uses evapotranspiration to evaluate the demand of water for specific crops. The darker areas indicate places in Pakistan where farmers probably had to pump more groundwater to irrigate their fields. The lighter areas show places where rainfall was sufficient to cover the needs of the crops. The maps at the top show evapotranspiration from January to September 2018, while this map focuses on August. This year, many parts of Pakistan experienced reduction rain and drought conditions.
Water management is crucial for several reasons. First, applying too much water can actually hinder crop production, sometimes clogging plants and decreasing yields. For example, rice requires 60 centimeters (24 inches) of water in the province of Punjab and 140 centimeters (55 inches) of water in the province of Sindh, but farmers often apply up to 220 centimeters (87 inches). Studies show that the efficiency of water use for crops in Pakistan is lower than in the rest of the world. For example, rice growers in Pakistan have an average of 0.45 kilograms of rice per cubic meter of irrigation water, while the world average is 0.71 kg / m.3.
Second, excessive water use is depleting valuable water resources. Previous generations of farmers used water supplies from rivers, streams and lakes, but with the country's growing population and increased agricultural demand, surface water is no longer sufficient. Today's Pakistani farmers must pump additional water from the subsoil, which requires large amounts of fuel to pump. It also depletes groundwater reserves, which are important during dry periods and droughts in the country.
"In the dry season, all the water in the soil is used, but during the monsoon season the groundwater would be recharged, like charging a battery," Hossain said. "Now that resource is being challenged because you are using the groundwater at such a rapid rate."
The following map shows the evapotranspiration forecast from October 16 to 22, 2018. Evapotranspiration is calculated from the data of temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation, as well as global numerical weather model that assimilates NASA's satellite data. The team also looks at the maps of precipitation, temperature and wind speed to help determine the conditions of the crop. Precipitation data come from NASA's global precipitation measurement mission that is combined with ground measurements from the Pakistan Department of Meteorology.
When the water supply (ie, precipitation) exceeds the demand in a specific area as determined by the evapotranspiration data, a text message alert is sent to the farmers advising them not to water the plants. When rainfall is below demand, the PCRWR sends a text to farmers with the amount of additional water needed for their crops.
"We are gathering and calculating how much the crops will need in various stages of growth, whether they have planted it, if it is growing or ready for harvest," Hossain said.
A survey conducted by the PCRWR found that farmers who used text message alerts reported a 40 percent saving in water. As an anecdote, many farmers tell Hossain that their income has doubled because they obtained more crops by applying the correct amount of water.
Currently, Hossain and the PCRWR are working with several partners to expand the advisory service and turn it into a sustainable business. The Asian Development Bank and a commercial cellular operator have now teamed up with the University of Washington and PCRWR to make irrigation counseling an affordable service for at least 100,000 farmers.
Images from the NASA Earth Observatory by Lauren Dauphin, using data from the Surface water modeling system of South Asia. Tale of Kasha Patel.
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