Crop water requirements forecast

Climate change has critical impacts on the availability of water resources and, as a consequence, in agriculture this affects crop irrigation requirements and irrigation methods. The need for rational management of water resources is driven by the increased climate variability and this requires that decisions on water management and distribution are supported by climate services that provide useful information developed on the basis of climate data (climate-informed decisions). The synthesis between agro-meteorological modeling and remote sensing, together with innovative climatic products, is the key to the development of a climate service aimed at forecasting irrigation needs of crops. The identification of crops in the field by satellite images analysis allows to create an early crop map and, using a water balance model, the assessment of irrigation volumes on the study area can be provided. This climate service will therefore be developed for the management of water resources which, fed with sub-seasonal forecasts, will produce information of strategic value in onder to plan water distribution for irrigation purposes. The integration of climate projections within the system supports long-term strategic choices.