From Myth To Science: Weather-based Irrigation Advisory Services
24 April 2025, Tajikistan: In Tajikistan, ICARDA and CARITAS Switzerland, with support from CARITAS Switzerland and the Swiss Government, are leading a shift towards efficiency with weather-based irrigation advisory services, an innovation that aligns with the country’s ongoing reforms for equitable and sustainable water use.
Tajikistan and its Central Asian neighbors rely heavily on irrigation to sustain agricultural production. Yet, as climate change strains water resources, modernizing irrigation infrastructure and adopting smarter water management practices have become urgent priorities.
Agriculture remains the cornerstone of Tajikistan’s economy, employing approximately 65% of the workforce and consuming a staggering 91% of the country’s freshwater resources. Since its independence, Tajikistan has made significant efforts, including institutional reforms. While these reforms have focused on upgrading hydraulic infrastructure, improving water management at the farm level remains a critical gap. Many farmers still depend on intuition rather than precise data to determine irrigation needs, leading to inefficiencies and water waste.
Fortunately, a new generation of irrigation technologies is emerging to help farmers overcome these challenges. ICARDA and CARITAS Switzerland are pioneering a data-driven system that helps farmers irrigate crops based on real-time weather conditions, ensuring higher yields with less water.
Why Weather-based Irrigation Advisory Services Beats Guesswork
Traditional irrigation methods, like drip and sprinkler systems, have long been used to improve water application efficiency in agriculture. However, many farmers struggle to maximize their benefits—not because the technology is lacking, but because they lack clear, data-backed guidance on when and how much to irrigate. Without this precision, many rely on experience and instinct, often over- or under-watering their crops.
Weather-based irrigation advisory systems fill this gap. These tools provide real-time data, helping farmers fine-tune irrigation to match crop needs, soil conditions, and weather patterns. This shift transforms irrigation from an imprecise, reactive practice into a controlled, optimized process, reducing waste and improving productivity.
For water-scarce regions like Central Asia, where every drop counts, such innovations are beneficial and essential. By factoring in evapotranspiration rates, soil moisture, and climate data, these advisories ensure that farmers irrigate only when necessary, maximizing crop performance while conserving water.
Precision Irrigation for High-Value Crops
Crops with sensitive growth cycles, such as potatoes, tomatoes, rice, and fruit trees, benefit the most from weather-based irrigation advisory services. These crops require precise control over soil moisture, air temperature, and humidity to optimize nutrient uptake and growth.
Potatoes, for example, are particularly vulnerable to both over- and under-watering. Too much water disrupts nutrient absorption, reducing yields, while too little leads to wilting and stunted growth. Real-time advisories help farmers strike the right balance, ensuring optimal irrigation at each stage of development.
Debunking the ‘More Water, More Potatoes’ Myth
Many farmers believe that more water means higher yields, relying on traditional cues, such as wilting leaves or dry soil, to decide when to irrigate. Yet research shows that excess water can be just as harmful as drought. Over-irrigation reduces oxygen availability, weakens root systems, and ultimately lowers yields.
ICARDA’s research confirms that timing and quantity matter just as much as availability. Providing farmers with science-backed irrigation schedules is a crucial step toward water sustainability in dry regions as it helps them use less water while achieving better harvests.
Tajikistan Case Study: Smarter Irrigation, Bigger Yields
Potatoes are a staple crop in Tajikistan, crucial for both food security and economic stability. They thrive better than other crops like wheat and cotton, especially in high-altitude areas. Potato consumption in Tajikistan averages around 41 kg per household per capita per year.
In recent years, the country has made impressive strides in production, achieving a record potato harvest of over 1.1 million tons in the first 10 months of 2024, a 20.6% increase from the previous year. This is a significant milestone toward the country’s goal of reaching 1.5 million tons annually.
Yet, water scarcity remains a major challenge, with farmers often struggling to access irrigation water when it’s needed most. Recognizing the growing urgency for implementing smarter, more efficient water management solutions, ICARDA, in partnership with CARITAS Switzerland, has tested three scenarios to identify the most effective irrigation schedule to maximize potato yield and ensure sustainable water use in the Laksh region in Tajikistan during the vegetation season of 2023 and 2024:
- Conventional irrigation: Farmers irrigated whenever water was available in canals (i.e. every 2 weeks), following a “use it or lose it” mentality.
- Weather-based irrigation (canal-dependent): Watering was adjusted based on crop growth stage, soil moisture, and canal availability (i.e. every 2 weeks).
- Optimized irrigation (reservoir-fed): A reservoir provides a steady water supply, allowing irrigation based on real-time weather and crop data.
Figure 2: Potato yield recorded in Year 1 and Year 2 of the study under the three irrigation scenarios
Unlike the other approaches, Scenario 3 was not limited by water availability. By drawing water directly from a constructed reservoir, this system ensured a steady and reliable supply, eliminating the unpredictability of canal-based irrigation. Despite being irrigated ten times, this plot used the least amount of water, demonstrating that strategic, controlled irrigation is more efficient than the conventional “use it or lose it” methods.
Initially, farmers were skeptical about the cost of constructing a reservoir, questioning whether it was economically viable. However, continued demonstration and learning helped shift perceptions. Farmers began to see that this approach mimicked an ideal system where groundwater or river pumping could act as a buffer during periods of canal shortages, providing long-term solutions for water-scarce regions.
Each of the three scenarios was carefully monitored, with precise tracking of growth patterns, biomass accumulation, water uptake, and soil moisture levels to ensure scientific accuracy and real-world applicability. The evaluation process was a collaborative effort involving not only ICARDA and CARITAS Switzerland scientists but also local farmer associations and a team of Austrian Master’s students from BOKU.
The Results: More Crop Per Drop
Over two seasons, the results were striking:
- Scenario 2 (Weather-Based Canal Irrigation): Saved 11-38% of water while increasing yields by 30-143%, translating into 40-294% higher water productivity than conventional irrigation (Scenario 1).
- Scenario 3 (Reservoir-Based Irrigation): Saved 28-51% of water while boosting yields by 46-236%, achieving an astonishing 103-580% increase in water productivity compared to conventional practices.
The future of agriculture and food security in drylands depends on smarter water use. Freshwater resources are dwindling, and business-as-usual irrigation is no longer an option. ICARDA and CARITAS Switzerland have demonstrated that smart innovations such as weather-based irrigation advisory services can help farmers produce more with less, improving yields, water efficiency, and climate resilience.
However, scaling up these innovations will require widespread adoption by farmers and stronger policy support from governments. With the right investment in technology, training, and infrastructure, smallholder farmers can turn water scarcity into an opportunity for smarter, more productive farming.
Also Read: Government Procurement at MSP in Full Swing, but Wheat Prices Crash in Mandis
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