Abstract

According to the UNESCO, about one fifth of the world's population lives in areas with water scarcity, and another quarter of the world's population face supply restrictions of this resource due to insufficient infrastructure to supply water from rivers and aquifers. For these reasons, it is very important to implement programs that aim to protect the natural environment, the conservation of water resources and their efficient management. In the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the work team of the Regional Center for Agronomic Studies of the University of Chile, developed a strategy to optimize the time and frequency of irrigation with objective and specific information of each farm, using modern technologies for the monitoring of soil water content, such as probes continuous and discontinuous reading, telemetric transmission and Dropcontrol management platform for irrigation control in real time. In addition, it was complemented by the use of probes with discontinuous readings in pits, the use of the pressure chamber for monitoring the water status of the plant and permanent accompaniment to the farmers by specialized technicians, through technology transference. An average reduction in water expenditure was achieved by 21%, with maximums of up to 50% of resource saving, increasing the efficient use of the resource together with a proportional decrease in energy expenditure. The formation of a technological network and permanent associative work is emphasized, the training to the farmers and the technical team of the cooperative was strengthened, who are better prepared to face possible problems of water availability, to estimate the real needs of the pisco vine and the recognition of different situations of poor management in irrigation that could cause alterations in the general state of their crops and their productivity.