Ikshu Kedar: Mobile app for raising sugarcane water productivity in sub-tropics

Abstract

Adequate and timely irrigation of sugarcane is necessary for higher yield and profit. Owing to beneficial response of irrigation on sugarcane yield, frequent and excessive irrigation is often practiced that needs to be curtailed. Among various means to save water in sugarcane agriculture, use of modern information and communication technology (ICT) tools has a vast potential owing to its wider spread and easy handling. Determination of right date of irrigation is crucial both for water saving and raising the cane yield in desiccating atmospheric conditions of sub-tropics. Among different approaches of scheduling irrigation, the ratio between applied irrigation water depth (IW)
and the cumulative pan evaporation (CPE) has been found the most efficient. Algorithm suitable for different crop growth stages in relation to long-term rainfall and based on IW:CPE ratio provides the base for the Ikshu Kedar mobile app. The app is designed for android mobile phones and it does not need internet connectivity once downloaded. The app determines the next date of irrigation in sugarcane with inputs such as date of planting and the date of the last irrigation. Ikshu Kedar gives the output both in speech and text mode in Hindi language.