The world’s limited water resources are increasingly under stress. The potential use for productive and non-productive purposes is severely restricted because of limited water availability and decreasing water quality. Ecosystems are under threat and climate change adds to these challenges that have far-reaching consequences for the livelihood of an increasing population.
The challenge for global agriculture is to grow more food with declining allocations of land and water. To do so requires a much more responsive approach to water use and water management. ‘In a water stressed system increased crop production usually will offer higher benefits than the water cost savings itself, typically a factor 5-10. So it makes good sense to use the water smartly and look at irrigation in a larger scale using intelligent Decision Support Systems to manage the water’ says Jesper Kjelds, DHI and continuous ‘as an example an average Australian farm could gain more than 500.000 US $ annually just by reducing the water consumption by 10% and targeting the water to maximise the crop gain’.
According to FAO agriculture accounts for 70% of all freshwater withdrawals compared to 20% for industry and 10% for municipal and domestic use. In Africa and Asia more than 80 % of water is for agriculture compared to less than 40% in Europe and North America. The technology to enhance the usage of the accessible water is already available and the pressure to produce ‘more crop per drop’ increases as freshwater scarcity becomes more prevailing.
As Jesper Kjelds, DHI, expresses it ‘Water savings can be achieved by on line access to high resolution real time field data and local area precipitation forecasts. Real time and forecast data provides the essential inputs to hydrological forecast models (with embedded optimization algorithms). The model forecasts in turn provides the decision basis for water managers and irrigators to precisely schedule releases and application, thus achieving the water savings’.
These are some of the aspects which will be addressed at the upcoming Irrigation New Zealand Conference and Expo to be held in Christchurch April 26-28th. This is New Zealand’s largest irrigation event which brings the industry together to highlight cutting edge information from national and international professionals in fields of practice, policy and research in a challenging three days of conference and expo activity.
Danish-based Jesper Kjelds, DHI, will feature in the conference programme as the keynote presenter in the ‘Optimising Demand Management’ session.