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AGRICULTURE 4.0

Digital finance and inclusion in the time of COVID-19

Digital technology and agricultural markets

Remote Sensing Based Agricultural Drought Monitoring and Yield Loss Prediction Method

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Global Water Partnership (GWP) have launched a joint Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) in March 2013, to improve monitoring and prevention of one of the world’s greatest natural hazards. GWP is responding to the climate change challenge through a portfolio of programmes and projects aimed at building climate resilience through better water management (Kindler and Thalmeinerova 2012).

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The case study has three important steps, which correspond and relate to each other in hierarchical way.

Use of Remote Sensing and GIS in Water Resources Management: North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS)

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

The North-Western Sahara Aquifer System, which stretches over an area of more than one million square kilometers, is shared by Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. Due to the structural configuration and climate type of the region, the recharge of the NWSAS is very limited. These aquifer systems represent geological reserves whose natural outlets (springs and foggaras) led to the development of oases where people lived, for centuries ago, in perfect harmony with the Saharan ecosystem.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

As water resources are mainly related to agriculture in the area of interest, a first vegetation mapping was realized based on MODIS time-series NDVI covering the NWSAS area over the last 10 years in order to establish a first vegetation areas inventory, to better understand the spatial distribution and year-to-year variability in irrigated areas.

Results:

Using ICTs to Investigate Agricultural-Induced Eutrophication in Freshwater Reservoirs: A Case Study of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir (Russia)

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

The Tsimlyansk Reservoir in Southern Russia is of great environmental and economic importance to the region in which it is located. Formed as a result of the Tsimlyansk dam, the reservoir is relied upon for transportation, as a source of freshwater in an area that is densely populated, is used extensively for irrigation of the region’s agricultural lands, and is a source of cooling water for a nuclear power plant in the area, among a variety of other uses (Lagutov and Lagutov 2012). 

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The first step was to perform a land use classification to develop a land use land cover map to determine the extent to which agricultural lands cover the area of study. Four Landsat tiles (Figure 3), enough to cover the entire reservoir and adequate land around it, were obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey database (glovis.usgs.gov) for two dates, one at the beginning of the growing season (June-July) and one towards the end of the growing season (August)  Images were selected based on the 1) time of year, 2) satellite mission, and 3) little cloud cover.