5/5 - (1 vote)
Water, once an abundant natural resource, has become a more valuable commodity due to droughts, overuse and improper water management. Lack of Water resources has forced many farmer communities to move out of the agricultural sector while others have shifted from food crops to timber crops.
Farmers today can use the benefits of Farmsio – Smart Water Management Systems using the Agri-Tech solutions to mitigate the climate-smart farming practices. The modern Digital AG-Tech methods use minimal water to irrigate the crops and by reducing the potential leaching and overusing the groundwater.
Smart Water Management Conservation Methods:
1. Conserve Water using floating solar photovoltaics:
Reducing evaporation and conserving water using the floating Solar photovoltaics method has proved to deliver a positive impact on water conservation. This works by putting floating solar panels on the water bodies like irrigation dams, canals, rivers and ponds.
According to the experts, the arrayed solar panels on the water bodies can block sunlight penetrating into the water thus avoiding water evaporation by retaining the thermal gradient constant.
2. Reducing Water Seepage through Lining in Canals:
Climate reliant Agri-Tech measures to reduce water seepage, leakage and percolation losses during irrigation can be arrested by including the lining of canals and watercourses and promoting modern irrigation technologies such as pipe, sprinkler and drip systems.
However, with today’s technology, in many places, it may not be economical nor practical to line all canals. Farmsio’s Agrotech experts objective is to determine the type of technology most suitable to local conditions.
Agro Development Agencies recommended the Canal Lining method in the areas that have the potential to absorb water and often cause water loss due to seepage or percolation loss can adopt this lining method. The high costs of the Canal lining solutions will be especially useful to improve the potential for growing high-value crops.
3. Sprinkler irrigation Systems:
Sprinkler irrigation sprays water over the fields. A sprinkler system consists of a pumping unit, a pressurized pipe conveyance network, and a set of nozzles.
The favourable features of the Sprinkler system are – uniform water distribution over the field, which increases yields and minor dependence on the condition of the soil surface.
When sprinkler irrigation is practised during the night, water losses can be further reduced due to lower evaporation losses.
4. Drip Irrigation:
Drip irrigation is a slow drop-by-drop irrigation system. Localized application of water, at a grid just on top of the soil surface. There are also subsurface drip systems, in which drip irrigation laterals are buried 20-60 cm below the soil surface.
Drip irrigation saves water by reducing the size of the wet soil surface, thus decreasing the amount of direct evaporation and excess percolation through the root zone. Unlike sprinklers, drip irrigation is practically unaffected by wind conditions, nor is it affected by soil surface conditions. Soil is maintained in a continuously moist condition. Nutrients can be applied through the drip systems, thus reducing the use of fertilizers and improving the quality of returned water. Increases in water use efficiency in drip irrigation
The Most successful water management method to irrigate vast land.
For example:
Israel has achieved a modernization of irrigation techniques and increased irrigation efficiency by introducing drip systems and computerized automatic water control. The improvements over the past years have made it possible to significantly increase both the area under irrigation and agricultural production, without increasing water use.
Agriculture Water Management using IOT Devices:
Transforming the future of Agriculture by adopting climate reliant smart water management systems to irrigate the land. IoT in Agriculture comprises specialized equipment like sensors to understand the soil moisture in real-time and automatically irrigate the field without human intervention.
Limited availability of natural resources such as freshwater resource management needs to be integrated with wireless sensor networks with mobile applications. IoT in Agriculture ensures the optimum application of resources to achieve high crop yields and reduce operational costs through precision agriculture.
Climate Resilient Agriculture methods:
Climate risk management is the only sustainable solution to mitigate drought or withstand the rise in temperature by preventing soil erosion and maintaining the soil nutrition for the healthy crop.
Plant trees – prevent soil erosion, at the same time acts as the wind barrier to distil the heat waves into the farm.
Form Bund – Create Bunds can slow down draining away the nutritive soil from higher land to the low land.
Dig Trenches – Trench around the farmland prevents rainwater water run away from the land. Trench helps to improve the groundwater level by percolating the water down into the farmland, especially during the summer rains.
Recharge Borewells – Building a Rain Water harvesting system to recharge borewells during the rainy season, this naturally increases the efficiency of water outflow.
Conclusion:
Farmsio Promote climate-resilient agriculture practices to conserve water – the most important natural resources for agriculture and crop yield through Smart Water Management Solutions through Agri-Tech approach.
Contact Farmsio to conserve water natural resources by saving through Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) irrigation methods.