For farmers who own a smartphone, irrigating their crops no longer means getting their hands dirty. With just a tap on their phones, they can water fields from anywhere. In Wangdue Phodrang, some farmers are now embracing the Smart Automated Irrigation System, making farm work easier and smarter.
Tshering Wangmo from Sheley village in Ruebisa Gewog irrigates her crops in the greenhouse using her mobile phone from the comfort of her home.
“When we are working outside, it is difficult for us to get to the greenhouse to irrigate it. The vegetables start drying when we are unable to water them on time. However, this system has benefited us. We no longer need to worry, even if we forget to irrigate. We can water the plants directly by activating the system through a mobile app. There is also an option to set a scheduled time for irrigation. The system turns off according to the duration set in the app.”
However, besides a smartphone, the system requires several components such as solar power or electricity, a Wi-Fi network, a water tank, a controller, valves, and water pipes.
Those components were all provided by the district administration.
Farmers can also schedule irrigation times directly through the mobile app.
Nakchung Mo, a farmer said “With this system, we no longer have to manually irrigate the vegetable such as broccoli. Otherwise, we would need to water them every morning and evening manually. Sometimes, we even had to leave other work just to irrigate, because if we didn’t, the vegetables would start drying. So, this system provided by the government is helping us today. We can irrigate on time, no matter where we are.”
According to the district agriculture officer, the system ensures efficient water management, increases productivity, saves manpower, and enables farmers to adapt to changing climate conditions in a sustainable way.
The district administration has also provided 12 such systems in Wangdue Phodrang and plans to supply more depending on budget availability in the future.
Changa Dorji, Wangdue Phodrang
Edited by Tshering Zam
