Farmers can now establish the amount of water needed to irrigate crops and optimize on use of water. (New York Times, accessed November 30, 2010).

A new technology that establishes crop water requirement will enable farmers to identify where water is used productively or squandered. According to one of the scientists, Dr. Sander Zwart (a scientist with the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands), reasons for wasted water can be analyzed, allowing farmers, and agricultural policy makers, to establish best practice for irrigation in specific locations. This cuts down on water use without compromising the harvest. Such technology will be invaluable to farmers in the Nile basin region of Africa where Eastern Africa countries are facing off with Egypt and Sudan over the use of the Nile waters.

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