A soil water and solute learning system for smallscale irrigators in Africa

dc.contributor.authorStirzaker, Richard
dc.contributor.authorMbakwe, Ikenna
dc.contributor.authorMziray, Nuru Ressa
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-26T14:45:55Z
dc.date.available2017-07-26T14:45:55Z
dc.date.issued2017-05-19
dc.descriptionThe research in this article was part of the project Increasing Irrigation Water Productivity in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe through On-farm Monitoring, Adaptive Management and Agricultural Innovation Platformsen_ZA
dc.description.abstractBetter yields of high-value crops are necessary for a profitable irrigation industry in sub-Saharan Africa. We introduced two simple tools, the Chameleon soil moisture sensor and the FullStop wetting front detector, which represent soil water, nitrate and salt levels in the soil by displaying different colours. These tools form the basis of an experiential learning system for small-scale irrigators. We found that farmers quickly learned from the tools and changed their management within a short time. The cost of implementing a learning system would be a small fraction of that of building or revitalizing irrigation schemes.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentPlant Production and Soil Scienceen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2017en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipPartially funded by the Australian Government via the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cijw20en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationRichard Stirzaker, Ikenna Mbakwe & Nuru Ressa Mziray (2017) A soil water and solute learning system for small-scale irrigators in Africa, International Journal of Water Resources Development, 33:5, 788-803, DOI: 10.1080/07900627.2017.1320981.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0790-0627 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1360-0648 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1080/07900627.2017.1320981
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/61453
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherRoutledgeen_ZA
dc.rights© 2017 Crown Copyright in the Commonwealth of Australia Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License.en_ZA
dc.subjectVirtual irrigation academyen_ZA
dc.subjectChameleon sensoren_ZA
dc.subjectFullstop wetting front detectoren_ZA
dc.subjectSocial learningen_ZA
dc.subjectIrrigation schedulingen_ZA
dc.titleA soil water and solute learning system for smallscale irrigators in Africaen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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