Water efficiency and yield stability through model based irrigation

บทคัดย่อ (อังกฤษ)

Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, will face major water scarcity problems in the future. Effective water management needs to be implemented. The challenge for Southeast Asia is to remain an important producer of agricultural crops while optimizing yields, manage water use efficiently, and guarantee a livelihood for farmers. Especially, cassava growers are small-scale farmers with low incomes. Cassava production can be significantly increased through irrigation, but solutions to optimize yields need to be affordable and make effective use of the limited water available. We aim to develop a decision support tool for cassava producers. The tool will provide necessary information for irrigation management. We will develop the tool with the participation of stakeholders, including contracted farmers, breeders, irrigation specialists, starch factory holders. The end goal is to develop a smart-phone app that will provide the farmer with critical information about the current status of the soil and crop and model-based forecasts of crop yield as influenced by irrigation management decisions. The project will (1) develop a novel model of root water uptake and crop production, (2) study root growth plasticity in response to water shortage, (3) test novel irrigation techniques, (4) monitor farms with novel affordable sensor technology, and (5) develop a novel mobile phone app to support farmers in irrigation decisions. The model will integrate weather, soil, and on-farm sensor data, to give field-specific yield predictions as a function of the irrigation scheme. We will involve farmers and other stakeholders through yearly workshops and intensive monitoring of participating farmers in Vietnam and Thailand. Stakeholder input will be used to design promising irrigation methods and test them on experimental farms. We will conduct controlled experiments in the greenhouse and study root growth plasticity. Collected information will be used to develop a predictive model of cassava yield. The model will integrate weather, soil, and on-farm sensor data, to give field-specific yield predictions as a function of the irrigation scheme. The model will be integrated into a mobile phone app with a relatively simple interface to support farmers' decisions. The proposed project will improve our basic understanding of root growth and root system plasticity in response to water availability. Beyond science, we expect that the project will directly impact the livelihoods of participating farmers, as they will learn from experts and each other about efficient use of resources while optimizing yields. The proposed decision support tool will be a proof of concept which can easily be extended 1) to other crops and cultivars, 2) to include other management decisions such as fertilization and crop protection, and 3) to a social platform for sharing and collecting information.