Precision irrigation: Challenges and opportunities

Agricultural productivity in arid or semiarid environments cannot be sustained without adequate irrigation. Farmers require tools to assist them in making decisions about when and how much water to apply to their crops in order to make effective use of irrigation systems. However, at the moment, farmers make these decisions primarily on the basis of their previous experience and/or limited weather information. When irrigation systems are not used properly, they can lead to mismanagement of available fresh water, crop yield compromises, and direct reductions in farmers' financial returns, besides adverse effects for environmental sustainability. This chapter presents a systematic review of irrigation methods and precision irrigation technology. Based on the review, it was deduced that precision irrigation is still in its early stages in Pakistan and the rest of the world. Irrigation as a part of precision agriculture systems, or precision irrigation has received little attention, even though there has been widespread advocacy and application of precision agriculture in dry land regions. Furthermore, the potential of precision irrigation has not been evaluated, despite widespread promotion and implementation of precision agriculture. In this chapter, we have identified key challenges and opportunities for adaptation of precision irrigation and are suggesting future research directions for precision irrigation systems, trying to bridge the research–practice gap.