SPONSORS

• 2008 - Pakistan National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (PANCID)
• 2007 - U.S. National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (USCID)
• 2006 - Malaysian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (MANCID), and Spanish National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CERYD)
• 2005 - Spanish National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CERYD)
• 2004 - French National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (AFEID)
• 2003 - Japanese National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (JNC-ICID)
• 2002 - Canadian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CANCID)
• 2001 - Korean National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (KCID)
• 2000 - Indian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (INCID)
• 1999 - Cinese National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CNCID)
• 1998 - Netherlands National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (NETHCID), Directorate General of Public Works & Water Management, and IHE Delft

WatSave Awards - 2008 : Invitation for Nominations

[NOMINATION FORM, CONDITIONS AND CRITERIA, CHECKLIST, EVALUATION PROCESS]

Re.: IC 96/Awards
Dated: January 8, 2008

All National Committees/ Committee of ICID

Sub : WatSave Awards – 2008: Invitation for nominations

Dear Sir/Madam,

Since a decade, ICID has been presenting WatSave Awards to professionals around the world to recognize their outstanding contribution to water saving/ conservation in agriculture. So far 24 awards have been given to the professionals from 12 ICID member countries.

Awards are given in three categories viz. (i) Technology, (ii) Innovative Water Management, and (iii) Young Professionals. Each award carries prize money of US$ 2000 and a Citation. The ICID WatSave Awards for the year 2008 will be presented at the 59th meeting of the IEC scheduled to be held in October 2008 at Lahore, Pakistan. Nominations are invited for the ‘WatSave Awards 2008’ from individuals/ team through National Committees/ Committee. The entries are open to all professionals/ teams from ICID member countries as well as non-member countries. In case of an entry from a ‘non-member’ country, the nomination has to be  routed through and validated by an active National Committee of ICID, who should be in touch with the nominee and aware of his work’.

All the National Committees/ Committee are requested to send their nominations by inviting contributions on outstanding achievement from all those professionals who are engaged on water saving/ conservation activities. The deadline for receipt of the entries from the National Committees along with a completed Nomination Form (Annex 1) to the Central Office ICID, New Delhi is 30 June 2008.  The ‘Conditions and Criteria’ set for the awards are given in Annex 2. Annex 3 shows the checklist of enclosures to be forwarded by the national Committee while submitting the nominations.

The selection of the winners from amongst the nominations received will be made by an International Panel of Judges to be appointed by the President, ICID in consultation with the Chairman, Working Group on Water Saving for Agriculture (WG-WATS). Annex 4 provides an ‘Evaluation process’ to be adopted by the international ‘Panel of Judges’ while evaluating the nominations. I therefore request all the national committees/ committee to carry out primary evaluation of the nomination(s) in light of the questions posed in the evaluation process, before submitting those to the Central Office, New Delhi. 

 Full details of the awards and excerpts of the award winning contributions by the past award winners are also available on ICID web site <www.icid.org/awards.html>.

I urge your National Committee/Committee to give a wide publicity to these awards in your country through local newspapers also by e-mailing amongst all professionals working with water management organisations. Please also widely circulate the announcement, especially among actual farming and young professional communities and persons actively involved/ dedicated to water saving/conservation practices, in order to get real outstanding contributions.

I have pleasure in seeking nominations from National Committees, electronically, so as to reach the Central Office, ICID on or before 30 June 2008. Nominations not complying with the above requirements will not be accepted.

Yours faithfully,

(M. Gopalakrishnan)
Secretary General

Cc:       President, ICID
            All Vice Presidents, ICID
            Chairman, WG-WATS
            All Members of the WG-WATS

Encl.: As above

Winners of Watsave Awards 2007

Technology Award

Messrs Werner and Herbert Arns from Brazil have jointly received the WatSave Technology Award 2007. Mr. Werner Arns (b.1953), Brazil holds degree in Rural Business Administration and is a farmer by profession. He has 32 years of experience in irrigated rice farming and is a founder of the Club for Direct Planting of Irrigated Rice. Mr. Herbert Arns, Brazil, holds degree in Agronomic Engineering and is a farm manager to look after technical aspects of Werner Arn's farm. He is specialized in the area of irrigated rice including seed science and herbicidology.

Messrs Werner and Herbert Arns received the award for their work on water savings in growing rice using a center pivot sprinkler system instead of the traditional surface irrigation where the fields are flooded with water over the growing season. They have succeeded in reducing irrigation water use by over 50 %. The center pivot has allowed for even more conservation in the spring months (October-November), when it is sufficient to irrigate every 2-4 days due to the temperate climate. Besides 50 % water savings, there has also been a dramatic decrease in the production cost to the extent of 20%.

Another advantage of using center pivots to grow rice is that it facilitated multiple crop rotations over the years, adding valuable nutrients to the soil and improving its texture. This becomes difficult with surface irrigation because of the amount of labor required to prepare the fields from rice to another crop. With center pivots, the Arns were able to grow rice, wheat, soybeans and oats in rotation. Messrs Arns have also discovered the benefits of practicing minimum tillage which lead to saving time, reducing runoff, and protecting soil productivity.

To maximize the crop yields, Arns experimented with different seed varieties, seeding densities, and application rates of fertilizers and herbicides on various plots using the center pivot. Over the years, they have been using seed varieties that have a strong resistance to disease and mature in 130 days. They have also managed to reduce the seeding rate from 200 - 250 kg/ha in 1999, to the current 100 kg/ha. As a result of the various new practices, Arns were able to harvest at least 6500 kg/ha of rice each year, besides reducing pumping water requirements by over 60 %. Despite some increases in crop inputs, overall savings and comparable yields have far outweighed the added costs. With their current savings, they expect to pay off the use of center pivots machine in five or six years.

To know more about Messrs Werner and Herbert Arns achievements in water saving, please click. Mr. Werner Arns may be contacted at <wernerarns@terra.com.br> and Mr. Herbert Arns may be contacted at <harns@bnet.com.br>.

Innovative Water Management Award

Dr. Abraham Singels (b.1956), South Africa is a Principal Agronomist at S.A. Sugarcane Research Institute. He holds Masters in Agronomy and Ph.D. in Agro-meteorology. Dr. Singels has 17 years of experience in graduate and post graduate teaching and 9 years' experience in research management. He is a recipient of several prestigious awards and has a membership of many professional societies. Dr. Singles has published more than 166 technical publications including 25 referred scientific publications.

Dr. Abraham Singels received the WatSave Innovative Water Management Award 2007 for his work on the development and implementation of a system to utilize the potential of sophisticated information and communication technology (crop modelling, mobile phone technology, internet, automatic weather stations), combined with participatory methods to achieve substantial improvement in water use efficiency and sugarcane yields for the benefit of small-scale growers.

The system developed, MyCanesim, consists of a sugarcane model, an on-line weather database and a communication network, which automatically provides farmers with near real-time field-specific irrigation advice and yield estimates using cell phone text messages (SMS). More extensive information is provided to the advisory support structure, by FAX and internet. The system has been embraced by the target group, thanks to substantial water savings and other positive spin-offs. The approach is now being extended to the industry, including commercial growers.

Dr Abraham Singels and his team developed the MyCanesim system having three main features viz., (1) use of state-of-the-art technology, (2) limiting users' exposure to system complexity, and (3) participation of users in system design and implementation. Daily weather data are downloaded from automatic weather stations, situated throughout the S.A. sugar industry. The SMS text messages are sent to the farmers whenever an action is required, but at least once per week. The content comprises a suggestion to start, stop or continue irrigation for their field, with an estimate of current and final cane yield. These messages are sent in the growers' mother tongue for easy implementation. The weekly fax summary to advisors contains information for each field in a given scheme on the current irrigation action (irrigating or not), the expected date of the next action (stop or start), the expected date of the last irrigation, current cane yield and rainfall and irrigation totals to date. Reports containing detailed information such as current and future cane yield, sucrose content and soil water deficit can be downloaded from the website.

The MyCanesim system was implemented on a pilot scale on two small-scale irrigation schemes at Pongola and Makhathini, South Africa, using semi-permanent and portable overhead (sprinkler) irrigation, with an average irrigation interval between 7 and 10 days. The project started with 7 farmers in 2004, which gradually increased to the current 39 farmers, who together cultivate some 400 ha of sugarcane. A participatory approach was adopted to ensure relevance and practicality. Farmers, extension staff and mill cane supply management contributed to the design of the web interface, the advice and the reports generated by the system. Problems and progress made were discussed at regular implementation and evaluation workshops.

Interviews conducted with participating growers in 2007 showed that 75% of them regard the system as very valuable and follow the advice whenever possible. An exact figure on water savings and yield effects cannot be given due to natural year-to-year variations and the lack of record keeping in the past. Simulations suggest up to 25% water saving ( 200 mm per annum) as compared to the previous practice without jeopardizing yields, mainly by providing less water to young crops with little canopy cover.

In addition to these direct benefits from the irrigation advice, the MyCanesim system reports serve as a useful benchmark of field and crop status. They are used by extension staff as a basis for discussion with growers during field visits, and to identify agronomic practices that limit yields such as poor crop stand, insufficient weed control, erratic movements of sprinklers, and excessive sprinkler setting times. For example, during periods of high evaporative demand, some growers increased the stand time from 12 to 24 hours. As a consequence, a significant amount of irrigation water was wasted through run-off or deep drainage whereas the practice doubled the irrigation cycle (from 10 to 20 days) subjecting the crop at the lower end to yield reducing water stress. The project team explained these consequences and succeeded in convincing the growers to change these practices.

To know more about Dr. Abraham Singels achievements in water saving, please click. Dr. Singels may be contacted at <singels@absamail.co.za>.

Hearty Congratulations to all the Award Winners.

Sixth N.D. Gulhati Memorial Lecture for International Cooperation In Irrigation and Drainage

A Process-Based Approach to Improving the Performance of Irrigated Agriculture

Dr. Albert J. Clemmens (USA)

Presented at ICID’s 19th Congress, Beijing, China
September 2005

Dr. T.B.S. Rajput and Dr. Neelam Patel (India) receiving 'Best Paper Award 2006' from President Lee in recognition of their outstanding paper titled "Enhancement of Field Water Use Efficiency in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of India" published in Issue 54.2.