Thomas van Eldik – FutureWater

In October, a team of FutureWater, Practica and Climate Resilience Research Centre visited Syangja district in Gandaki province, Nepal, for the ‘Smart Sprayer’ project, a feasibility study funded by the Partners for Water scheme. The project aims to increase water and food security in Nepal by testing and deploying novel smart irrigation technology.

In Syangja district, situated in the mid-hills of Nepal, smallholder farmers rely on springs for irrigation in the dry season (Nov – Mar). Spring discharge is low this time of the year and further reduction can be expected in the face of climate change. Traditional irrigation systems either require high water pressures or have low water use efficiencies. As a result, food insecurity persists while farmers fail to realize their full income potential. this applies not only to the district at hand since Nepal is a net importer of food.

The project is researching the feasibility of the ‘Smart Sprayer’, a system that combines hardware and software to help farmers grow food even under water scarce conditions. It has two components:

The hardware: a lightweight pivot irrigation system, 12m in diameter, which can operate at pressures as low as 2 m of hydraulic head – far lower than traditional systems. The low pressure and high efficiency allow the system to work under water-scarce conditions.
Software: our digital irrigation advisory tool Croptimal that uses WAPOR evapotranspiration data, crop specs, and growth stage info to calculate crop water demand. We condense all these datasets and calculations into a single practical SMS message, advising farmers number of minutes to irrigate, saving water while ensuring optimal yields.

The sprayer setup and tested in the field.

Discussion between the project team and the municipality of Bheerkot, Syangja.

By enabling efficient irrigation under water-scarce conditions, farmers can increase crop production for the local market. This is expected to improve both food security, farmer livelihoods, and reduce vulnerability to climate change.

Some highlights of the trip were: researching water security challenges with a selection of 10 local farmers; discussing the technology to the municipalities of Putalibazar and Bheerkot; testing the sprayer and installing a weather station for ground truthing.

The project is a one-year feasibility study, requiring the consortium to move fast. The next steps are the transplanting of seedlings (cauliflower and cabbage); setting up farmer-managed irrigation with the Sprayer guided by SMS advisories; monitoring operations and crop performance by WUR intern Maaike de Wit; as well as developing farmer and supplier-level business cases. The ultimate goal of the project is to assess if the ‘Smart Sprayer’ is technically and financially feasible and can have a positive impact on the lives of smallholder farmers in Nepal.

MSc students at Wageningen University (WUR) have the opportunity in their master programmes to work as consultants on real-world problems. This year, four students from different master’s programmes conducted research and developed new solutions for FutureWater’s work in the BUCRA project in Egypt.

BUCRA is an RvO-sponsored project in which FutureWater, the Netherlands African Business Council, Witteveen+Bos, Delphy, SkillEd, Sanable, Mozare3 and Buzoor collaborate to find new pathways for climate-smart agriculture in the upper Nile Delta. As part of the project, FutureWater is further developing its crop advisory tool Croptimal.

Croptimal provides crop suitability advice based on remote-sensing-derived weather and soil data. The tool can serve both smallholder farmers with field-specific crop advice and policymakers with region-wide agricultural planning. Two major challenges for the development of Croptimal are the integration of reliable seasonal weather forecasts and the integration of long-term climate projections.

With increasingly erratic weather patterns, farmers can rely less and less on their historical experience to select the right crop for the next season. Seasonal forecasts help farmers select crops that are best suited to the conditions of the upcoming season within a changing climate. However, seasonal forecast products are not readily available and often need to be calibrated to specific regions. The WUR students researched the best available seasonal forecast products, then bias-corrected the most suitable dataset based on historical observations for Egypt, and integrated the whole workflow within the Croptimal tool. The students’ research and integration of seasonal forecasts can help farmers in the Nile Delta adapt their crop selection to uncommonly hot or dry seasons, which becoming more and comming unfortunately.

The second part of the project involved integrating multi-decadal climate projections into Croptimal, transforming the tool into a policy advisory platform. The aim was to create region-wide crop suitability maps for different climate projections. The students first researched the best available dataset for this project. Next, they designed a web-map application that can visualise crop suitability under different climate scenarios. For the design they did not just consider technical feasibility, but drew on insights from communication science and design philosophy to develop an application that is easy to use and conveys the most important insights convincingly to non-technical stakeholders. The web-map will help policymakers better understand the effects of climate change on food production and visualise the regional and temporal trends for these effects.

The students not only contributed important and useful work to the BUCRA project, but their ingenuity and creativity also helped FutureWater explore new pathways for its Croptimal tool. Their contribution will form a lasting part of BUCRA’s work in helping Nile Delta farmers adapt to an increasingly changing climate.

Nepal offers an ideal testing ground due to strong government support for climate-smart agriculture, a large population of vulnerable smallholders, and active engagement from organisations like Climate Resilience Research Centre (CRRC) and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Results from this feasibility will support national policy goals and can be scaled to similar mountain regions across South Asia.

This project focuses on Syangja District, Gandaki Province, which faces growing water scarcity and unpredictable rainfall, especially on hillside farms reliant on spring-fed irrigation and rain-fed agriculture. These conditions make traditional irrigation unworkable and create a need for low-pressure, affordable, and locally adaptable solutions. The Smart Sprayer combines practical hardware with a digital advisory tool to optimise limited water use — a frugal innovation tailored for smallholder needs.

Croptimal combines of crop, field and irrigation characteristics with weather station and satellite data to provide irrigation advice.

The project entails the feasibility of an integrated, low-cost “Smart Sprayer” irrigation system based on Croptimal but tailored for hillside farming that delivers practical WhatsApp/SMS irrigation advice. The main innovation is the Smart Sprayer, a gravity-fed, low-pressure micro-pivot irrigation device paired with a tailored Smart Irrigation Tool. The digital platform delivers daily, data-driven irrigation advice to farmers’ phones. Together, these offer a scalable and cost-effective package for precise and efficient water use on remote hillside farms.

The main objective is to improve water security and agricultural productivity for mid-hill smallholders during the dry season in Nepal. More specifically, to demonstrate the technical, economic and social feasibility of a low-pressure irrigation solution in combination with irrigation advisory based on remote sensing data and weather forecasts. This includes market research and development of business cases for both farmers and local suppliers.

The Croptimal app is available at Croptimal.app. Get in touch with us if you would like more information or to request your own account.

Video: Croptimal – Smart Irrigation Advice Powered by Data

The TU Delft and TAHMO (Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory) have launched a project with the Netherlands Embassy in Ghana to improve local weather data, help Ghanaian farmers get actionable information from it and with it foster a climate-smart horticultural sector in Ghana. At FutureWater, we support the project by researching optimal planting dates for horticultural crops that are commonly grown in Ghana, such as tomato, eggplants, and onions. The end goal is to supply farmers and extension officers with location-specific information on optimal planting dates for different horticultural crops.

Our methodology is inspired by earlier work led by TU Delft. The FAO AquaCrop model is used simulate crop growth and yields under different possible planting dates based on data of the local climate and local soil conditions, considering the spatial variability across the country. Different planting strategies are analyzed, to assess the effectiveness of both traditional and weather-data informed planting strategies. FutureWater uses the open-source Python version of AquaCrop, developed by Manchester University.

This project will not just explore new ground on sowing windows in Ghana, but it will also provide actionable information for Ghanaian farmers and help them better prepare for an already changing climate.

FutureWater and its RVO Impact Cluster partners recently visited Egypt for the Building Unity for Climate Resilient Agriculture (BUCRA) project. The team assessed the demonstration farm in Qahbunah, a community in the northern Nile Delta. This farm will function as a pilot for innovative agricultural practices, showing the potential for more efficient and climate resilient agriculture.

During the visit, the team:

Examined current water and agricultural systems;
Met with local farmers to discuss the challenges they face;
Explored solutions to enhance rural livelihoods and foster climate resilient agriculture.

FutureWater will develop two digital tools that provide farmers with real-time irrigation (SOSIA) and crop planting advice (Croptimal). By leveraging the power of remote sensing and low-cost open-access datasets, smallholder farmers can get access to advice typically reserved for large commercial farms. Farmers can use these tools to improve yields, reduce water usage, and adapt to a changing climate.

The project brings together expertise from both Egyptian and Dutch partners: Witteveen+Bos, Delphy, SkillEd, Sanable Group, Land Water Food Consult, Mozare3, Buzoor, and NABC. The combination of international and local expertise makes the project well-positioned to work towards more climate-resilient agriculture in the region.

The team also met with representatives from local universities, ministries, and key organizations such as GIZ, and WFP to explore collaborations and learn from existing initiatives in the region. These discussions emphasized the need for coordinated action to address the Middle East’s environmental challenges. Climate change, water scarcity, and salinization threaten food production, while 55% of Upper Egypt’s population lives below the poverty line. The BUCRA project aims to address these dual challenges by developing resilient agricultural systems that both improve rural household incomes and enhance climate adaptation capabilities.

The BUCRA team interviewing local farmers.

The BUCRA (Building Unity for Climate Resilient Agriculture) project aims to strengthen agricultural resilience in Qahbunah, a farming community in Egypt’s Nile Delta. Local farmers face growing pressures from water scarcity, climate change, and land fragmentation, creating an urgent need for innovative and practical solutions to safeguard their livelihoods.

At the core of BUCRA is Croptimal, developed by FutureWater. Croptimal bridges advanced data-driven technologies with local agricultural knowledge to support farmers in making smarter, climate-resilient decisions.

Croptimal is a climate suitability analysis tool that combines climate projections, geospatial data, and agricultural expertise to assess the suitability of crops under both current and future climate conditions. By identifying which crops and locations are most resilient to stressors such as heat, salinity, and water scarcity, Croptimal provides farmers with clear, data-driven recommendations for crop selection and planting strategies. The tool delivers detailed maps and actionable insights, helping farmers adapt to climate change while improving productivity and reducing risk.

Complementing Croptimal, BUCRA also applies smart irrigation advice through digital tools that improve water-use efficiency. Using open-source satellite data, real-time weather information, and local soil conditions, farmers receive precise, daily irrigation recommendations. These are delivered directly via WhatsApp, ensuring the service is accessible, practical, and cost-effective. This approach reduces water and energy use while maintaining or improving crop yields—an essential benefit in the water-stressed Nile Delta.

Beyond digital tools, BUCRA includes demonstration plots that showcase climate-smart practices such as efficient irrigation, improved soil management, and crop rotation. Farmers take part in a blended learning programme, combining hands-on field training with simple digital applications designed for easy adoption.

A strong emphasis is placed on empowering youth and women, strengthening market linkages, and promoting sustainable land-use practices. By aligning Dutch expertise with local needs, BUCRA seeks to increase productivity, stabilise incomes, and build a more sustainable agricultural future for Qahbunah.

The project’s long-term vision is to encourage wider adoption of these tools and practices across the region, contributing to improved food and water security while addressing the growing challenges of climate change.

The Croptimal app is available at Croptimal.app. Get in touch with us if you would like more information or to request your own account.