WaPOR special session showcases national digital innovations for smarter irrigation at the XIX World Water Congress

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) co‑organized a special session on WaPOR during the XIX World Water Congress, held in Marrakech from 1 to 4 December 2025. The session, titled "Boosting performance of irrigation and supporting productive water use through co‑designed digital innovations using WaPOR data layers", highlighted the relevance of remote sensing for irrigation management and showcased concrete digital solutions co‑developed with national institutions across Africa and the Near East.

The World Water Congress, convened by the International Water Resources Association and hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco, brings together global actors to discuss water governance, innovation and sustainable management. Within this framework, the WaPOR session aimed to demonstrate how open‑access remote sensing data, combined with co‑design processes, can strengthen irrigation management at scheme and basin levels.

The session opened with keynote interventions from Livia Peiser, Senior Land and Water Officer, FAO, and Sander Zwart, Senior Researcher Water and Climate, IWMI, who outlined how WaPOR provides near‑real‑time data on biomass development, evapotranspiration, precipitation, soil moisture and other agro‑climatic parameters at resolutions ranging from 300 to 20 metres. These layers enable cost‑effective monitoring of water productivity and support actions to improve irrigation performance as water scarcity intensifies globally.

The keynote also emphasized the co‑design and co‑development process, which includes demand creation, joint needs assessment, iterative tool development, capacity building and institutional integration to ensure that national institutions can operate and maintain the tools independently.

Six national digital tools presented

Representatives from Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Mali, Morocco and Mozambique presented six WaPOR‑based tools designed to assess irrigation performance, diagnose inefficiencies and support operational decision‑making:

• Iraq – Irrigation Performance Assessment Tool: Galwah Talal Sami, Senior Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Water Resources, presented the app developed for the West Gharraf Scheme, explaining how the tool provides performance indicators, spatial outputs and downloadable maps that support improved irrigation planning and monitoring.
• Jordan – Irrigation Performance Assessment Tool: Ahmad Alktout, Head of GIS Department of the Jordan Valley Authority, outlined how the app assesses irrigation performance at field and scheme levels and helps identify opportunities to improve water productivity through visualized spatial patterns.
• Kenya – Precision Irrigation Advisor: Jairus Serede, Director of the Irrigation Management Services at the National Irrigation Authority, demonstrated the tool that combines WaPOR data with sensor measurements to guide real‑time irrigation decisions in major schemes including Mwea and Tana.
• Mali – Irrigation Performante de l’Office du Niger (IPON): Bakui Kone, Chargé de Mission of the Office du Niger, presented the IPON platform, which integrates nine irrigation performance indicators, enabling spatial and temporal analysis for rice and sugarcane production, now officially transferred to Office du Niger.
• Morocco – Water Consumption Dashboards: Fatiha Choukri, Head of IT Service of the Tensift Basin Agency, showcased the Water Consumption Dashboards, which use WaPOR evapotranspiration data to monitor water use, verify groundwater abstractions and support regulatory enforcement.
• Mozambique – Irrigation Performance Assessment Tool: Delfim Vilissa of the National Irrigation Institute describing how the tool assesses water consumption, crop yields, economic water productivity and system efficiency with online and offline functionality for the Lower Limpopo region.

These tools demonstrate how combining satellite data, ground observations and user-centred design can result in actionable, institution‑specific digital services.

The presenters reflected on challenges in institutional decision‑making and how the new tools address data gaps. Participants discussed difficulties related to capacity, data processing, cross-departmental collaboration and tool sustainability, reinforcing the importance of co‑development and continued institutional engagement to ensure long‑term use and impact.