De TU Delft en TAHMO (Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory) zijn samen met de Nederlandse ambassade in Ghana een project gestart om lokale weergegevens te verbeteren, Ghanese boeren te helpen er bruikbare informatie uit te halen en daarmee een klimaatslimme tuinbouwsector in Ghana te bevorderen.

FutureWater ondersteunt het project door onderzoek te doen naar optimale plantdata voor verschillende gewassen die veel in Ghana verbouwd worden, zoals tomaat, aubergines en uien. Het einddoel is om boeren en voorlichters te voorzien van locatie-specifieke informatie over optimale plantdata voor verschillende tuinbouwgewassen.

Onze methodologie is geïnspireerd op Agoungbome et al. (2024) en hun analyse van veilige zaaiperioden in West-Afrika. We zullen drie verschillende benaderingen voor het bepalen van plantdata evalueren: een op regenval gebaseerde strategie die een accumulatie van 20 mm vereist zonder daaropvolgende droge periodes, een agronomische aanzet die opeenvolgende regendagen vereist, en een modelgebaseerd veilig zaai-venster dat data identificeert die ten minste 90% van het maximale potentieel opleveren.

We zullen het FAO AquaCrop model gebruiken om de gewasgroei te simuleren onder verschillende plantdata over de afgelopen 30 jaar. Door meer dan honderd verschillende plantdata per jaar te simuleren, kunnen we de effectiviteit van zowel traditionele als weergegevensgestuurde plantstrategieën beoordelen. Bovendien kunnen we beoordelen hoe de optimale plantdata de afgelopen 30 jaar al zijn verschoven als gevolg van klimaatverandering en hoe droogte de optimale plantstrategieën beïnvloedt.

Dit zal ook de eerste keer zijn dat FutureWater gebruik zal maken van de open-source Python versie van AquaCrop, ontwikkeld door onze voormalige collega Tim Foster. Het zal spannend zijn om de nauwkeurigheid van het AquaCrop-model te zien samensmelten met de kracht van het Python-raamwerk. Waar mogelijk zullen we ook onderzoeken hoe het AquaCrop OSPy model kan worden uitgebreid met meer functies van het originele AquaCrop model, zoals vruchtbaarheidssimulatie.

Dit project zal niet alleen nieuw terrein verkennen op het gebied van zaairamen in Ghana, maar het zal ook bruikbare informatie opleveren voor Ghanese boeren en hen helpen zich beter voor te bereiden op een klimaat dat al aan het veranderen is.

Agoungbome, S. M. D., ten Veldhuis, M.-C., & van de Giesen, N. (2024). Safe Sowing Windows for Smallholder Farmers in West Africa in the Context of Climate Variability. Climate, 12(3), 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli12030044

The objective is to support the delineation and launching of a a Watershed Investment Program to improve multi-stakeholder collaboration and sustainable funding mechanisms to protect and restore riparian buffer zones and to implement runoff attenuation features to reduce eroded sediments entering the river.

To support the science streams, FutureWater is applying open source tools such as INVEST and RIOS Tool, together with Remote Sensing analysis to elaborate on a NbS opportunity mapping analysis. Besides, we aim to provide quantitative results on NbS benefits to reduce sediment loads entering the river system.

Looking at global climate change patterns and its increased pressure on natural resources, West African countries like Ghana will be hit very hard. In particular, agriculture, which is the largest water user in Ghana, will be affected by high temperatures and changes in the variability of rainfall. This variability in climate makes crop production and yield more uncertain, as well as farm income. The periods of droughts in Ghana are getting longer and there is increased pressure on water availability from the river basins due to climate change, putting many people and farmers in risk of having too little water. Therefore in this project, we will develop and pilot in the field an innovative tool that will significantly enhance water security in Ghana by reducing the quantity of water needed for irrigation per hectare (up to about 40% less of current water use).

To support the Ghanaian farmers in making the transition to a water secure future, they expressed a need for locally adapted, climate smart irrigation technologies and innovative advice to improve their irrigation practices. To develop such a smart irrigation service, FutureWater is working together with knowledge institute TU Delft, horticulture company Holland Greentech, and social enterprise TAHMO to develop this innovative tool and implement it in the field. This smart irrigation service should be able to translate various weather parameters and data (historical but also real-time data) into crop specific irrigation advice in volumes, but also in minutes for small-scale farmers. The unique and innovative part of this smart irrigation service, called SOSIA+ (Small-scale Open source, Satellite based Irrigation Advice), will be the algorithm to provide advice on how many minutes a farmer should irrigate a specific crop – based on the combination of the TAHMO local weather data and real-time data (normally not taken into account), that will be tailor-made for small scale farmers (normally these services are only for large scale farmers while the predominant type of farmers in Ghana are small scale) and is linked to the innovative drip irrigation systems that Holland Greentech Ghana already sells to farmers (so closely linked to an existing customer base of farmers and a product).

SOSIA+ will initially focus on the city of Kumasi and the Ashanti region, targeting more than 500 farmers and a growing population of more than 4 million people that needs to be fed and are affected by the changing weather patterns and increased water demand. In the long-term, the goal is to transform the horticulture sector in Ghana towards a smart and sustainable practice. By developing the Irrigation Advisory Tool, we can prevent over-irrigation to reduce water use and hence work towards the desired situation of sustainable food production and water security. This project will focus on gathering better weather information, piloting an innovative irrigation tool that is linked to a drip irrigation system to reduce water losses and implement this in the field with lead farmers. This will change the current traditional practices of the farmers leading to less water and energy losses, hence increasing availability of water and the sustainability of food production in light of climate change.

Earlier this year FutureWater and Holland Greentech developed a very first draft of the irrigation advisory application ‘SOSIA’ for Rwanda, with promising results. As one of the main problems in many African countries is that there is no ground network of weather stations, making it very difficult to efficiently manage water resources or generate weather forecasts that are localised and essential for food production, the initial SOSIA project used satellite remote sensing data to overcome this problem. But given the rapidly changing weather patterns due to climate change, the collection of ground data is also essential. This is why TAHMO has been set-up to develop a dense network of weather stations all over Africa and using their data will be very valuable to use for the irrigation tool.

The video below gives a brief summary of the tool created in the previous SOSIA project.

Twiga is the Swahili word for ‘giraffe’, a keen observer of the African landscape. TWIGA aims to provide actionable geo-information on weather, water, and climate in Africa through innovative combinations of new in situ sensors and satellite-based geo-data. With the foreseen new services, TWIGA expects to reach twelve million people within the four years of the project, based on sustainable business models.

Africa needs reliable geo-information to develop its human and natural resources. Sixty percent of all uncultivated arable land lies in Africa. At the same time Africa is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Unfortunately, the in situ observation networks for weather, water, and climate have been declining since the 1970s. As a result, rainfall predictions in Africa for tomorrow have the same accuracy as predictions in Europe, ten days ahead. To realize the tremendous potential of Africa while safeguarding the population against impacts of climate change, Earth observation must be enhanced and actionable geoinformation services must be developed for policy makers, businesses, and citizens. New in situ observations need to be developed that leverage the satellite information provided through GEOSS and Copernicus (Open data/information systems).

TWIGA covers the complete value chain, from sensor observation, to GEOSS data and actionable geoinformation services for the African market. The logic followed throughout is that in situ observation, combined with satellite observations and mathematical models, will result in products consisting of maps and time series of basic variables, such as atmospheric water vapour, soil moisture, or crop stage. These products are either produced within TWIGA, or are already available with the GEOSS and Copernicus information systems. These products of basic variables are then combined and processed to derive actionable geo-information, such as flash flood warnings, sowing dates, or infra-structural maintenance scheduling.

The TWIGA consortium comprises seven research organisations, nine SMEs and two government organisations. In addition it uses a network of 500 ground weather stations in Africa, providing ready-to-use technical infrastructure.

FutureWater’s main role in TWIGA is centered around the use of flying sensors to map crop conditons, flood extent, and energy fluxes, complementing and improving data from in situ sensors and satellites. Furthermore, FutureWater is involved in innovative app development.