Martijn de Klerk (MSc.) is Financial Manager and Agricultural Water Management Expert at FutureWater, with over ten years of experience in water management, irrigation, and agriculture. He specializes in applying innovative technologies to enhance sustainable water use on an international scale. Holding a master’s degree in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University, he has developed extensive expertise in project planning, organization, and implementation. His career spans both financial and strategic management, as well as applied research and technological innovation in the water and agricultural sectors.

Martijn has expertise in drone and satellite image processing, GIS analysis, climate-smart agriculture, and water allocation modeling, applicable from individual farm fields to large-scale river basins. He has worked in diverse environments, including the Netherlands, Spain, Mozambique, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, and South Africa.

At FutureWater, Martijn plays a key role in both technical innovation and business operations. As Financial Manager, he is responsible for the company’s financial policy and strategic growth. Additionally, he has been a key contributor to the development of SOSIA, a service that provides operational irrigation advice to farmers in Africa by integrating remote sensing, hydrological modeling, and local expertise. He has also led flying sensor (drone) projects in Africa and helped establish local initiatives in Mozambique and Kenya that offer drone-based crop monitoring. These technologies enable early detection of crop stress, allowing farmers to optimize irrigation, reduce losses, and increase yields. In some projects, these insights are combined with crop growth models for a more comprehensive productivity analysis.

Related projects

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  Egypt

  BUCRA: Building Unity for Climate Resilient Agriculture

  The BUCRA project empowers smallholder farmers in Egypt’s Nile Delta with climate-smart agricultural practices and advanced digital tools. Using FutureWater’s Croptimal and SOSIA, the project optimizes crop selection and irrigation efficiency, addressing water scarcity and climate change. Demonstration plots and tailored training drive sustainable, resilient farming.

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  Ghana

  SOSIA+: Climate Smart Irrigation Services in Ghana

  Earlier this year FutureWater finished a very first draft of the irrigation advisory application SOSIA, with promising results in Rwanda and Zambia. The SOSIA Irrigation Advisory Tool was based on satellite data only. For this project, the SOSIA+ tool will be developed. SOSIA+ will also include real-time local ground data...

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  France Italy Romania

  MAGDA: Meteorological Assimilation from Galileo and Drones for Agriculture

  The MAGDA project aims at providing an integrated – but modular – system to provide severe weather forecasts and irrigation advisories enhanced by means of various satellite-borne, drone-borne and ground-based weather-observing technologies. The main applications will be in providing both warnings about severe weather that could affect crops and irrigation...

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  Iran

  Tailor-made Training on Data-Driven Capacity for Ecosystem Services and Management in Iran

  This tailor-made training, funded by Nuffic as part of the Mena Scholarship Programme and requested by The Center for Conservation and Development of Sustainable Ecosystems (ZIPAK) in Iran, focused on providing participants with relevant hands-on experience in tools and techniques to enhance their capacity to manage (protected) ecosystems in Iran.

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  Rwanda Zambia

  SOSIA: Small-Scale Open Source Satellite-based Irrigation Advice

  FutureWater currently furthers the development of the SOSIA tool: an irrigation advice for small-scale food producers. Due to the lack of local weather station data, virtual weather stations derived from open-source satellite data are established, and combined with crop stage, and projected and historical precipitation data. The SOSIA tool allows...

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Related publications

• 2025 - Remote SensingLagasio, M., S. Barindelli, Z. Chitu, S. Contreras, A. Fernández-Rodríguez, M. de Klerk, A. Fumagalli, A. Gatti, L. Hammerschmidt, D. Haskovic, M. Milelli, E. Oberto, I. Ontel, J. Orensanz, F. Ramelli, F. Uboldi, A.Validi,E. Realini. 2025. Integrating Advanced Sensor Technologies for Enhanced Agricultural Weather Forecasts and Irrigation Advisories: The MAGDA Project Approach. Remote Sensing, 17(11), 1855. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17111855X

  Integrating Advanced Sensor Technologies for Enhanced Agricultural Weather Forecasts and Irrigation Advisories: The MAGDA Project Approach

  Lagasio, M., S. Barindelli, Z. Chitu, S. Contreras, A. Fernández-Rodríguez, M. de Klerk, A. Fumagalli, A. Gatti, L. Hammerschmidt, D. Haskovic, M. Milelli, E. Oberto, I. Ontel, J. Orensanz, F. Ramelli, F. Uboldi, A.Validi,E. Realini

• 2024 - Technical reportVerschuren, L., A. Fernández, M. de Klerk, S. Contreras, E. Aparicio Medrano. 2023. MAGDA: Water Balance Simulations. Deliverable 6.1. Technical report Meteorological Assimilation from Galileo and drones for agriculture (MAGDA) project.X

  Demonstrator operational irrigation advisory service

  Verschuren, L., A. Fernández, M. de Klerk, S. Contreras, E. Aparicio Medrano

• 2023 - Technical reportVerschuren, L., A. Fernández, M. de Klerk, S. Contreras, E. Aparicio Medrano. 2023. MAGDA: Water Balance Simulations. Deliverable 6.1. Technical report Meteorological Assimilation from Galileo and drones for agriculture (MAGDA) project.X

  MAGDA: Water Balance Simulations

  Verschuren, L., A. Fernández, M. de Klerk, S. Contreras, E. Aparicio Medrano

• 2023 - Technical Reportde Klerk, M., J. van Til, M. Hermus, N. Oranyo, K. Julius, 2022. HiFarm Synthesis Report.X

  HiFarm Synthesis Report

  de Klerk, M., J. van Til, M. Hermus, N. Oranyo, K. Julius

• 2022 - Technical Reportvan Til, J., M. de Klerk, 2022. HiFarm: Final Project Meetings Report.X

  HiFarm: Final Project Meetings Report

  van Til, J., M. de Klerk

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