Workshop on the information & collection of receivables from producers and agronomists for the research project GreenWaterDrone
Today was held at the “DIMITRA” Center of the HAO(Hellenic Agricultural Organization) in Kyparissia , a workshop for the information & collection of requirements from producers and agronomists of the province of Trifylia, for the services and technologies that will be piloted in 2019-20 in the area, by the GreenWaterDrone project (www.greenwaterdrone.gr), funded by the NSRF / EPAnEK through the Action " Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation " on the saving of irrigation water.
Of all water resources in Greece 80%-85% are spent on irrigation, while a large part of this water (40-60%) is lost in irrigation network leaks and due to over-irrigation & lack of planning. The gradual reduction of available water resources from over-pumping through drilling and the increase of salinization, makes saving good quality irrigation water, a critical parameter of viability of the agricultural sector, especially for crops with high water requirements, such as vegetables produced in Trifylia. Many different technologies are proposed to address the problem. The innovation introduced by GreenWaterDrone concerns the way in which the Water Stress Index (CWSI) is measured and applied:
- for the calculation in almost real time of the need for irrigation (dynamic programming),
- at a lower cost than existing terrestrial systems (infrared sensors),
- greater accuracy and capabilities compared to existing satellite telemetry systems,
- minimization of the intervention in the cultivation with the use of polycopters (drones)
The project designs and develops services, which include notifying the user via fixed (PC) or mobile device (smartphone) of the need for irrigation (which can be applied with appropriate automation in an existing irrigation system), dynamic surveillance of the cultivation (real-time images / videos in emergencies of natural or man-made disasters, regular drone flights for photogrammetry and thermographic recording of crops) and escalation of irrigation planning, with projection of the results (under conditions) at the Municipality / Region level, as a tool for the study and design of water policy.
The workshop was opened with a greeting by the Director of Agricultural Economy of Trifylia, Mr. Antonis Paraskevopoulos, with the cooperation and substantial assistance of whom the project was prepared and began its implementation.
After that followed the presentation of the partners and applications, by the Project Coordinator Mr. George Kakaletris, CTO of the company CITE. Then the method, the innovation and the equipment were presented, by the Associate Professor of the Agricultural University of Athens Dr. Alexandris Stavros, Scientific Project and Pilot Manager.
After providing clarifications to the public’s questions, a techno-economic summary of the services of the project was presented by the Assistant Professor of the TEI of Peloponnese Dr. Philippopoulos Panos, System design manager.
The workshop ended with structured interviews by the team of TEI Pel., with the present producers and agronomists, in order to record the views, expectations and requirements (technical and financial) of potential end users of the system’s services.
Here is the complete list of the project’s contributors that attended the workshop:
- Mr. Kakaletris Georgios, Chief Technical Officer, CITE S.A.
- Assoc. Prof. Alexandris Stavros, A.U.A. Dept. of Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering
- Dr. Charalambopoulos Ioannis, A.U.A. Dept. of Crop Science
- Dr. Psomiadis Emmanuel, A.U.A. Dept. of Natural Resources & Agricultural Engineering
- Assistant Professor Philippopoulos Panos, TEI of Pel., Dept. Of Computer Engineering
- ETEP Koutrakis Konstantinos, TEI Pel., Dept. Of Computer Engineering
- Mr. Dimou Spyridon, Chief Executive Officer, ITCS Informatics, Education & Cons. Services EPE