Agriculture, energy ministries’ systems connected for smart water management

TEHRAN- The Director General of the Agricultural Water Affairs Office at the Ministry of Agriculture announced the groundwork for initiating the implementation phases of connecting the agricultural production zoning and cropping pattern systems with the water systems of the Ministry of Energy, stating that this program has been placed on the agenda with the aim of optimizing water utilization and determining the water consumption volume for each farmer.

According to a report by IRNA from the Ministry of Agriculture, Amir Hedayati added that with the creation of this shared platform, for the first time, direct connectivity between water resource data and agricultural production information and cropping patterns will be made possible, and this measure will play an important role in increasing water productivity and policymaking in the agricultural sector.

The Director General of the Agricultural Water Affairs Office at the Ministry of Agriculture stated that it has been agreed that in the first step of this program, the SAMAB system of the Ministry of Energy, which contains basic water resource data, will be connected to the agricultural production zoning system of the Ministry of Agriculture, which holds data on agricultural operators, so that the information of agricultural operators can be matched with the information of operators holding water resource extraction permits.

He clarified that in subsequent stages, other systems of the Ministry of Agriculture, including the "My Farm" system, will also be connected to the relevant systems of the Ministry of Energy, and data exchange will take place on a broader scale.

Hedayati said that the Ministry of Agriculture possesses comprehensive and up-to-date systems in the areas of operator information, cultivation, production, and implementation of cropping patterns, but the most important gap until now has been the lack of direct access to water resource information, and for this reason, it has not been possible to simultaneously analyze production volume and water consumption.

He added that currently, agricultural production information is recorded and monitored in the ministry's systems, and the Ministry of Energy also holds information on water resources and extraction volumes from various plains in its systems. Therefore, the connection of these two datasets will make it possible to calculate production volume in proportion to the water consumed by each operator.

The official, noting that follow-up on this program began about two years ago, emphasized that the issue of connecting water systems with cropping pattern and agricultural production zoning systems was examined in two meetings of the Coordination Council of Deputies of the Ministries of Agriculture and Energy. Subsequently, a joint working group consisting of managers and technical experts from the two ministries was formed, which has held numerous meetings to date to prepare the technical and legal infrastructure for the project.

The Director General of the Agricultural Water Affairs Office at the Ministry of Agriculture clarified that in accordance with the laws and regulations concerning data exchange between executive bodies, a significant portion of the legal processes has been completed, and over the past month, trial data exchange between the two ministries has been recorded.

He added that data exchange documents between the two ministries have been prepared and exchanged, and it has been agreed that by next week, if there are any needs or technical challenges, the necessary items will be communicated so that the shared data exchange infrastructure can be made ready for trial operation.

EF/MA