Workshop on Operationalizing the Regional Collaborative Platform to Address ‘Water Consumption, Water Productivity and Drought Management’ in Agriculture, 27 - 29 October 2015, Cairo, Egypt

1. Andrew Noble
Deputy Director General-Research
NENA REGIONAL STAKEHOLDERS WORKSHOP
27-29 Oct 2015, Cairo, Egypt

2. Remote Sensing: A transformative technology:
• Multi-sensor and multi-scale observations
of carbon (biomass, yield);
• Water productivity (WUE, WPM), water
accounting
• Surface energy fluxes (G×E, stress)
Scale pixel to landscape
Productivity of Croplands, Grasslands; Livestock and Trees Based
Systems; Quantification of Traits/Integrated Breeding; Land
Degradation and Desertification; Extreme Events, Climate Change and
Resilience
Integrated Earth Observation System

3. Water Productivity
Net/Gross Return
WP =
Unit of water consumed
 Biomass, grain, meat/milk (kg)
 Income ($)
 Environmental benefits (C)
 Social benefits (employment)
 Energy (Cal)
 Nutrition (protein, carbs, fat)
 Evaporation
 Transpiration
 Quality
/pixel)mor/m(mEToruseWater
($)valueeconomicorkg/pixel)or(kg/mYield
)(kg/mWP 323
actual
2
3

Concept and Methods
Return: Yield, Biomass, GPP: RS and Insitu Observation using
Biophysical/Biospectral, and VPM models

4. Scale Matters
Assuming 25 units of surface +
subsurface losses

5. ET components from ETMonitor
E/ET(%), 2010
Ic/ET(%), 2010T/ET(%), 2010
Total ET(mm/yr), 2010
Plant transpiration dominants in vegetation
covered area
Soil evaporation contributes to total ET most
in arid and semi – arid areas
Canopy interception losses contribute to total
ET most in low latitude forest areas
Source: Wim Bastiaanssen

6. Water Productivity Score – Continental Wheat
Source: Wim Bastiaanssen

7. WP of Cotton 0.42 kg/m3 0.50 USD/m3
WP of Wheat 0.60 kg/m3 0.33 USD/m3
WP of Rice paddy 0.50 kg/m3 0.10 USD/m3
Water productivity (WP) is defined as the kg of yield
produced/m3 of water used or, alternatively, as value in $
of yield produced/m3 of water used.
Good Farm boundaries for better interventionsLand and Water Productivity
Pixels to Fields
(Biradar et al., 2009)

8. Looking
East
Looking
South
Looking
West
Looking
North
Field
West
North
East
Down
South
Ground Truth Data and Validation: Open Data
Kits, Citizen Science/Community RS

9. Irrigation Development & ET
• 18-year ET estimates from AVHRR indicate persistent increase in ET.
• Increasing trend on average is 4.9 mm/year
y = 4.9x + 581
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
1983-84
1984-85
1985-86
1986-87
1987-88
1988-89
1989-90
1990-91
1991-92
1992-93
1993-94
1994-95
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
ET(mm/year)
Year
Krishna River Basin-Annual ET
Annual ET Linear (Annual ET)
Source: Teluguntla et al. 2013
ACIAR Krishna Basin Project

10. Irrigation Development & ET
• The increasing trend is driven by the increase in ET during the dry
(Rabi) season.
• This trend is because of irrigation development.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Jul-83
Feb-84
Sep-84
Apr-85
Nov-85
Jun-86
Jan-87
Aug-87
Mar-88
Oct-88
May-89
Dec-89
Jul-90
Feb-91
Sep-91
Apr-92
Nov-92
Jun-93
Jan-94
Aug-94
Mar-95
Oct-95
May-96
Dec-96
Jul-97
Feb-98
Sep-98
Apr-99
Nov-99
Jun-00
Jan-01
Aug-01
ET(mm/month)
Months
AVHRR-8km ET
AVHRR-8km ET
Source: Teluguntla et al. 2013
ACIAR Krishna Basin Project

11. Productivity
Land degradation
Landuse dynamics
Yield gaps
Droughts/Floods
CC and Impact
Mapping and Monitoring Major ALS
Scaling
Similarity
Prioritization
Contexts
Ex-ante
Farmscape to Landscapes

12. #/km2
(Biradar & Xiao, 2010, 2013)
Changing Cropping Systems
• Cropping Intensity & Pattern
• Land use/land cover change
• Dynamics of Crop Fallows
• Conservation Agriculture
• Climate Change Impact
• Input Use Efficiency
Agricultural
Intensification
Cropping
Intensity
Increase in
Arable Land
72%
21%
7%

13. Land Use Map
2004/05
Irrigation Induced
Salinity Control and
Reclamation Project
Impact assessment and Ex-ante Analysis
Change in Space and Time

14. Conclusions
• Water Productivity (WP) is an integrating
element that goes beyond a simple ratio.
• Scale matters
• Transpiration is fixed – unless we change the
physiological attributes of crops.
• E in ET is where gains can be made through
management.