| The great challenge for the coming
decades will be the formulation of sustainable solutions for the
global water shortage crisis of sweet water. Our research is focused
on the planning and management of both rainfed and irrigated agriculture
(that consumes 70% of the global sweet water resources), as well
as on the simulation and evaluation of water management strategies
with the help of water balance studies. In water balances studies,
the change of water stored in the root zone is monitored by keeping
track of the incoming and outgoing water fluxes at its boundary.
The current research activities consist of:
- development of user-friendly software packages for the processing
of climatic data, the assessment of capillary rise, the calculation
of soil water and salt balances, and for the estimate of the crop
water productivity under deficient water supply;
- water management at scheme level: Participatory research on
small-scale irrigation farms and the development of irrigation
charts to help farmers in their day-to-day decisions;
- water management at regional level (several watersheds in Africa);
- water balances of greenroofs (as part of an integrated water
management in an urban environment).
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