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The improvement of water management in Andalusian agriculture has become a priority given the increasingly frequent periods of drought that the region faces. In response to this challenge, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, through the Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA), has submitted the GestIAgua project to the call for grants from the Ministry of University, Research, and Innovation for the development of innovative solutions to tackle drought, within the Andalusian Drought Plan program.
GestIAgua, which has been selected and allocated a budget of 350,000 euros for two years, emerges as a response to the demand from the Andalusian agricultural sector for solutions that optimize the available water resources in a context of drought and reduced irrigation allocations. It will develop innovative advisory tools based on experimentation, sensorization, and artificial intelligence techniques.
The project will offer specific solutions for rainfed and irrigated plantations of olive trees, nuts (almond, walnut, and pistachio), orange trees, vineyards, subtropical crops (avocado and mango), and berries (strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries), with the ultimate goal of optimizing irrigation application and soil management.
This initiative is structured into three modules, with a focus on the Aqua platform providing real-time open data from Sensorized Pilot Plots (PPS) distributed throughout Andalusia using field sensors, remote sensing techniques, and information from the Andalusian Agroclimatic Information Network.
The second module focuses on the development of advisory tools and decision support centered on irrigation scheduling and soil management using artificial intelligence techniques; while the third module involves a dissemination and knowledge transfer channel to the sector through innovative communication strategies, seminars, and workshops.
Open and easily accessible platform
The Aqua platform will provide a storage and visualization service for information at different scales in a completely open and easily accessible way to achieve efficient use of water resources.
At a first level, it will integrate information from satellites of the European Space Agency (ESA) such as Sentinel and crop characterization systems using images from NASA’s Landsat satellites. At a second level, high-resolution spatial information using drones will be integrated.
Additionally, data from the Andalusian Agroclimatic Information Network and information measured by a network of state-of-the-art sensors will be available. To achieve this, a hundred supervised pilot plots (PSS) will be used, located in IFAPA centers and collaborating farms distributed throughout Andalusia.
The goal is to establish a platform beyond the project that integrates all available information related to water management in Andalusia, with standardized protocols supervised by IFAPA to serve as a basis for the use of artificial intelligence in Mediterranean agriculture.
Three support tools
In the described pilot plots, Based on this, three types of decision support tools will be developed.
These will be specific tools for each crop based on information from the pilot plots; specific tools based on digital twins development including daily information from sensors; as well as specific tools for each crop using a soil water balance.
Finally, in the third module, the project’s results transfer and dissemination program will involve direct participation from the sector and will focus on computer applications; working spaces with sector companies, farmers, and technicians; workshops for technical staff and farmers; as well as the tools generated in the project.
Action schedule
The project will conclude on December 31, 2026, with the expectation that the Aqua platform will be operational before this summer, the pilot plot network will be operational after the summer, and the first decision support tools will begin before the 2026 irrigation season. Finally, the transfer program will start in the summer of 2025 and extend until the end of the project.
The project partners, including IFAPA, IAS-CSIC, and the Genil-Cabra Irrigators’ Community, have already started coordination meetings to select pilot plots, sensors, and communication networks to be implemented.