RES-EAU Scholars
Affiliated CEA:
- WACWISA West African Center for Water, Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture, University of Development Studies, Tamale Ghana.
Thesis title:
Modeling and simulation of smart irrigation systems for more efficient water use.
Erion Bwambale
Affiliated CEA:
- WACWISA West African Center for Water, Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture, University of Development Studies, Tamale Ghana.
Thesis title:
Modeling and simulation of smart irrigation systems for more efficient water use.
Start date: November 2020
Statement:
Irrigated agriculture is the world's largest consumer of fresh water. Water scarcity is increasing worldwide, leading to stricter regulation of its use for agriculture.
The world's population is expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050, which will increase demand for both water and food. Current agricultural production systems need to be improved to meet this demand while using less water. Current irrigation systems use many cubic meters of water to produce one kilogram of food.
Producing more crops with drip irrigation requires precise monitoring of soil and climate parameters, and scheduling of irrigation to meet crop water demand.
This study therefore fills this gap by developing a mathematical model that integrates the dynamics of soil moisture content, weather conditions and crop growth parameters to optimize irrigation scheduling.
Expected result / Main objective:
The aim is to develop an intelligent irrigation system that will calculate the right amount of water for the different stages of crop growth in real time.
This study provides a process dynamics model on which real-time irrigation scheduling decisions are based to achieve efficient water use.
Contribution / added value to the project :
This study contributes to sustainable water resource management by leveraging optimization and control techniques for real-time irrigation scheduling to improve water use efficiency. This study is directly linked to MDG 6 (Ensure access for all to sustainably managed water supply and sanitation services), target 4 (Sustainably increase water use efficiency) and MDG2 (End hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture), targets three and four (Double agricultural productivity and ensure sustainable agricultural production systems).
Supervisor :
Felix Kofi Abagale, WACWISA