Presented by Younis Gismalla (HRC), Yasir Mohamed (HRC), Gijs Simons (eLEAF), Maurits Voogt(eLEAF), Bharat Sharma (IWMI), Giriraj amarnath (IWMI) and Vladimir Smakhtin (IWMI) at the 4th Nile Basin Development Forum, 6-7 October 2014, Nairobi, Kenya.

1. Fourth Nile Basin Development Forum
6-7 October 2014, Nairobi, Kenya
Building Sustainable Transboundary Cooperation in a Complex River Basin
Younis Gismalla1, Yasir Mohamed1, Gijs Simons2,4, Maurits Voogt2, Bharat Sharma3, Giriraj amarnath3,
Vladimir Smakhtin3
1The Hydraulics Research Center (HRC), Sudan; 2eLEAF Competence Center, the Netherlands, 3
International Water Management Institute (IWMI); 4Future Water, the Netherlands. Towards a remote sensing based operational DSS for agricultural water and crop management in the Gash Delta - Sudan

2. IntroductionoWater scarcity & food security are the important issues for the growing population in the arid and semi‐arid zones. oLow productivity and Need for better water resources oInsufficient information, and missed opportunity of using modern information and communication technologyoFarmers can benefit from new technology to receive direct and actionable advisories on weather, water and crop to improve productivity and the livelihoods oExperience from literature on application of smart ICT in developed countries

3. Smart ICT for weather and water information and advice to smallholders in Africao3 years project, funded by IFADoPilot tested in Egypt, Ethiopia, (Mali), SudanoImplemented by IWMI (Lead), eLEAF, DLV plant, HRC (local partner-Sudan) oPilot in Gash in SudanoInformation remotely sensed (satellite images) oProcessed information sent to individual farmers via SMS, web portal servicesoOther stakeholders, extension, irrigation eng. , field inspectors, ..

4. Goal:
•Empower smallholder farmers, and community and public institutions in Africa to make informed decisions in managing their land and water resources betterwith the help from ICT- based technologies integrating weather, water and crop related information and advice.
Objective:
•To develop, test and pilot innovative approaches providing needed information; develop capacity of stakeholders to make good use of it; define priorities for data provision; and increase interest in agricultural and ICT- service provision industry for its wider uptake.

5. Remotely sensed satellite information
Topic
Contribution
Ethiopia
Sudan
Mali
Egypt
Weather
Temperature , rainfall, RH, wind speed, reference ET
y
y
y
Hydrology
River flow
y
Crop growth
Biomass production, yield, Nitrogen, Leaf Area Index
y
y
y
y
Agricultural Water Manage.
Crop water stress, crop water use, water productivity, soil moisture, irrigation advise
y
y
y
y
Flood Inundation extent
Daily/weeklyspatial surface water extent for Gash delta/mesgablocks; flood early warning
Y

6. oTools developed based on User Needs Assessment oHigh-resolution satellite images from DMC and Landsat8, supplemented by NPP VIIRS surface temperatureoSEBAL algorithm calculates Et and biomass production of cropoFor floods a HEC-HMS model coverts rainfall estimates in the catchment into flows at Sudan boarder
Methodology
Overview of the Smart ICT system design

7. oThe Gash seasonal river flows July-OctoberoOriginates in Eretria/Ethiopia, cat. 21,000 m2. oRiver length is 121 km from border to Gash Die. oAnnual is 650 Mm3/yr, (200 -1200 Mm3/yr) oFlashy floodsoHigh floods cause massive damages to Scheme and Kassala Town (e.g., 2003) oIt forms an inland Gash DeltaoThe Gash spate irrigation schemeoBest soil -Class 1 soiloCotton was the main crop < 1992>sorghumoThe arable 120,000 F cropped 56,000 FoGash land divided into basins (4000 F) 25 squares (160 F) 16 plots (10 F) oThe GAS composed of 6 blocks, 7 canals
Smart ICT in the Gash Scheme

8. o60 farmers were selectedo36 spate, 9 rainfed, 15 groundwateroFarmers’ fields fixed using GPSoUNA conducted among the farmerso75% preferred receiving information via SMSoTwo capacity building workshopo9 parameters Crop Growth, Moisture & Mineralso2 parameters on flood inundation/Gash flows oWeekly SMS sent to individual farmers on crop growth, crop water use efficiency, oOn demand SMS for irrigation advice
Farmers sending SMS
to ICT during training
Printscreenof the MyFieldsoverview page of the FieldLookwebsite

9. Results
Farmers make informed decisions on crop and water management
Decisions on when to irrigate & how much water to apply
The impacts of these decisions are:
−decreased labour and pumping costs,
−Savings in the limited groundwater, and
−better planning for agricultural operations.
Early decisions on food security can be made based on crop yield estimates
y = 0.0059x -52.435R² = 0.752
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
0
20000
40000
60000
Yield (Sacks)
Biomass production (Kg)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
0
200
400
600
800
1000
4/7/2013
18-07-2013
1/8/2013
15-08-2013
29-08-2013
12/9/2013
26-09-2013
10/10/2013
24-10-2013
7/11/2013
21-11-2013
5/12/2013
19-12-2013
Biomass water use efficiency
Biomass production
Biomass production (Kg/ha/week)
Biomass water use efficiency (Kg/m2)

10. Decisions on crop health Farmers/insurance companies
Decisions on soil suitability for specific crops
Impacts of water shortage on crop yield
Very valuable data for research
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0
5
10
15
20
25
25/06/2013
14/08/2013
03/10/2013
22/11/2013
11/01/2014
Biomass Production (kg/ha/week)
Evaporation Deficit (mm/week)
Date
Evapo_Deficit
Inundation
Biomass_Production
0
5
10
15
20
25
7/4/2013
8/4/2013
9/4/2013
10/4/2013
11/4/2013
12/4/2013
Evaporation Deficit (mm/week)
Date
FakyMah…

11. Conclusions and recommendations Remote sensing can play a pivotal role in decisions regarding agricultural water management; flood forecasting and planning Successful application of ‘fieldlook’ information in real time decision making in the Gash; Further analysis of the collected information will help promoting the decision making in agricultural water and crop management. Limitations such as farmers’ illiteracy, limited electricity coverage in the field were overcome; There is a high potential for using the tool in decision making in the future at different stakeholder levels. It is recommended to pilot test the tool in Gezira Scheme