The agricultural sector is already the largest user of water resources, accounting for roughly 70% of all freshwater withdrawals globally and requires even more water to sustain the continuous demand growth of food and biomass fostered by the population growth and changes in rainfall and temperature patterns caused by climate change. This is leading to an increase in competition and conflicts among users and sectors, especially in water-limited areas, for the use of the resources.
The project EO Africa Water Resources Management, promoted by ESA (European Space Agency), is thought to support efficient and sustainable agricultural water management. In particular, the project aims to develop and validate experimental EO analysis techniques to estimate crop water stress and evapotranspiration, utilising EO satellite. More specifically, ECOSTRESS and PRISMA data will be used to demonstrate the proposed methodology. Both missions can be considered as precursors of planned ESA’s mission which will greatly enhance the possibilities for routine monitoring of crop parameters at sub-field level all over the world.
The expected outcome is an open source innovative model to be developed to assess actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa) using EO-derived crop coefficient (Kc) and crop water stress index (CWSI).
The solution will be integrated into a web platform designed to support the end-users into their working practices related to the irrigation water management.
The team
The project team is composed by Planetek Italia, as prime contractor, Planetek Hellas and the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies – Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM-IAMB), international and intergovernmental research institute with a fluent dialogue with African stakeholders.
Two African stakeholders are involved in the project: the National Authority for Remote Sensing & Space Sciences (NARSS), Egypt and the “October sixth for agricultural projects” company (private sector), Egypt – as Early Adopter.
