Performance Evaluation Of Climate-Smart Irrigation Techniques In Arid Regions

Abstract

Water scarcity, climate variability, and poor soil conditions significantly constrain agriculture in arid regions, necessitating innovative irrigation approaches.This research compares the effectiveness of four climate-smart irrigation methods, namely Surface Drip Irrigation (SDI), Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SSDI), Sprinkler Irrigation (SI), and Sensor-Based Smart Irrigation (SBSI) to that of conventional Furrow Irrigation (FI) in the Barmer region of Rajasthan. Each technique was tested under the parameters like yield performance, water use efficiency (WUE), irrigated water productivity (IWP), soil moisture dynamics, energy consumption, and economic returns using a randomized complete block design across cumin, wheat, and maize crops. The findings demonstrated that both SBSI and SSDI were much more efficient than the others, with SBSI sometimes yielding over 29 percent higher IWP and more than 25 percent improvement in yields than FI. These systems also kept ideal soil moisture, minimized evaporation and energy consumption and provided better economical returns. The results affirm that the combination of precision irrigation and automation increases resource utilization and crop yield within arid agroecosystems. These systems need policy support, farmer training, and local demonstrations to be widely adopted because of their early entry costs and technical barriers.