The project EO AFRICA Water Resources Management (WRM), promoted by ESA – European Space Agency – aims to develop and validate experimental EO analysis techniques to estimate crop water stress and evapotranspiration by exploiting EO data.

In order to reposition the agricultural sector for better water management, this experiment seeks to carry out a thorough re-evaluation of water losses through evaporation from soil and transpiration by crops. This precise measurement of moisture presents a unique approach for water management in irrigation farming, and to do so at scale accurately and affordably, thermal EO offers an opportunity for precise estimation of water requirements on a crop by crop basis, and planning a more efficient irrigation schedule.

With better monitoring of water consumption, we can minimise vulnerabilities in the sector and thereby improving farmers’ resilience to climate change and other related uncertainties. EO Africa Water Resource Management project aims to validate open-source models for predicting actual evapotranspiration on a farm field using a comparative EO-derived data.

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. ​

Demostration Site

The study will be carried out at El Salheya El Gedida – Sharqia governorate (northeast of Egypt), in an agricultural exploitation of about 13.800 hectares, managed by the “Sixth of October Agricultural Projects Company”.  The irrigation infrastructure includes 120 irrigation pivots supplied with water through an on-demand steel pipeline system coming from the Nile River through the Ismailia canal with an average annual water consumption of about 140 million m3. The main cultivated crops are wheat, maize, and peanuts, representing 40% of the total cultivated area.

The project 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.

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