Crop Monitoring Online Platform for Viet Nam's Water Efficiency Improvement in Drought-Affected Provinces

The Institute of Watershed Management (IWMI) delivered the crop monitoring online platform development package under the Water Efficiency Improvement for Drought-Affected Provinces project in Viet Nam, supported by the Asian Development Bank. The final report was submitted in December 2022.

Using water sparingly in drought-affected provinces first requires knowing what crops are growing where, and how much. Setting irrigation deliveries and issuing drought warnings both rest on that knowledge. The subproject areas, however, had no means of observing production in real time. The assignment built an online platform to monitor crop production across the project area, supporting water resources and drought management while strengthening the capacity of the agencies involved.

The work was organised in four tasks. The first established the hardware infrastructure for real-time irrigation and drought management services. The second developed the information processing software, comprising an irrigation management system and a drought warning system. The third built the platform’s service content through WebGIS. The fourth transferred the technology through workshops and training. Hardware, software, service and training were designed as a single package on the judgement that handing over equipment alone does not sustain operation.

The system was named CAPPUCCINO, for Client-based APP Using Climate and Crop INformation for Operation. Its essential feature is bringing observation and forecast together in screens that field operators can open themselves. The platform supports Vietnamese agencies in planning irrigation deliveries and in judging drought conditions early.