Project field officers in Afghanistan are using GPS to help restore the country’s irrigation infrastructure. GPS-equipped cameras provide a simple, inexpensive method of tackling a key challenge in the war-torn country: access to water.
According to the World Bank, only 12 per cent of Afghanistan’s land is arable. Of that land, 85 per cent requires irrigation for agriculture – which makes having access to water a crucial element of agricultural productivity and food security.
Tracking and monitoring irrigation structures is difficult due to the remoteness of, and security issues in, many areas of the country. In response, a team from the World Bank is working with the Afghanistan Ministry of Energy and Water to develop a system to document and map water irrigation projects.
Project field workers are using inexpensive, easy-to-use GPS enabled cameras to record dates, times, and the longitude, latitude and altitude of irrigation structures that are under repair or construction. These images will provide a baseline for measuring the state of current structures and their progress.
The geo-referenced information is also being used for broader purposes. Because high-resolution or recently updated images of Afghanistan are not available, the camera images can be embedded in GIS-related maps that display other development related attributes such as boundaries, land classification and crop data.
The project is also being used to pilot remote supervision as it allows staff to make better decisions about on-site visits. The project also addresses the goal of providing remote monitoring that doesn’t require project workers to have technical expertise. The World Bank hopes this will improve project outcomes and lead to better services for people in developing countries.
“With tools like this,” said Pratheep Ponraj of the World Bank, “it becomes feasible for project teams to get timely and reliable information from geographically-spread areas covered by the project.”
