Ammon News - The National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) began installing 4 water consumption sensors, under the USAID-funded Innovative Water Technologies Project implemented by Mercy Corps, to estimate the fruit-bearing trees' water consumption.

NARC's Director-General Nizar Hadad said that the center, since its establishment, has been committed to adopting modern technologies that contribute to raising the efficiency of irrigation and the optimal use of water, especially as the Kingdom experiences water scarcity.

The center, Hadad indicated, employs the outputs of scientific research to serve and develop the agricultural sector by passing on modern technology to farmers through training workshops to increase their expertise and implement it on their farms in cooperation with partners from local and international bodies that support such projects.

The center's Assistant Director-General for Scientific Research Affairs Naim Mazahreh pointed out that the NARC began installing 4 sensor stations in the Deir Alla, Sharhabeel bin Hasna Station and Al-Khalidiyah stations for irrigated crops. The sensors will aid in the operations of monitoring soil moisture, salinity and temperature at several depths in these locations, Mazahreh added.

He pointed out that devices have been installed to measure the flow of plant juices in trees, improving the measurement of the trees' water consumption. These devices were installed specifically on citrus, olive and palm trees because they are of economic importance in the Kingdom.

These devices, he underlined, provide real-time information to researchers and experts about changes to plant's environment under the weather conditions and factoring in changes in soil moisture and salinity to enable experts to create irrigation schedules based on the actual needs of the plant on measurements at the level of vegetation cover as well as the heat flow in the soil layers, which informs experts on the plants' actual water needs.