AquaCropthe crop water productivity model

What is AquaCrop?AquaCrop is a crop water productivity model developed by FAO to improve water productivity in rainfed and irrigated fields. It simulates yield response to water of herbaceous crops and is particularly suited to address conditions where water is a key limiting factor in crop production.

AquaCrop was developed in 2009 and since then it has been used worldwide in different agro-ecological conditions.

©FAO/Giulio Napolitano©FAO/A.K. Kim

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Practical applicationsThe simulation results of AquaCrop can be easily translated into practical recommendations in order to increase water productivity. The model estimates the biomass and crop yield that can be expected in a specified environment and climate. It also provides an indicator which assesses the performance of the system, through the water productivity or the yield that is produced per unit of water evapotranspired.

INPUTS

Environmental conditionsWeather

Crop

Field management

Irrigation management

Soil profile

Groundwater

AQUACROP

APPLICATIONS• Understand crop responses to environmental change• Study the impact of climate change on crop yields• Compare attainable and actual yields in fields, farms and regions (yield gap analysis)• Identify constraints to crop production and water productivity• Develop irrigation schedules to optimize production• Develop strategies under water-deficit conditions to maximize water productivity• Support decision-making on water allocations and water policies

AquaCrop is intended for practitioners working for extension services, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and farmer associations, as a planning tool to assist management decisions in both irrigated and rainfed agriculture. It is also used as a tool to analyze the role of water in determining crop productivity.

In order to be widely applicable AquaCrop uses only a relatively small number of explicit parameters and mostly intuitive input variables requiring simple methods for their determination. On the other hand, the calculation procedures is grounded on basic and often complex biophysical processes to guarantee an accurate simulation of the response of the crop in the plant-soil system.

AquaCrop has been developed in three different formats to meet users' requirements:

©FAO/Danfung Dennis

The AquaCrop standard window programme - version 6.0:This is the standalone crop water productivity software model.

The AquaCrop plug-in programme - version 6.0:This allows to run several projects, pre-defined in the standard window version of AquaCrop, and to store results in output files. It can be used in applications where iterative runs are required, such as GIS environment.

AquaCrop-GIS:This has been designed to facilitate the use of AquaCrop when a high number of simulations is needed, simplifying the task of generating input and projects files and of managing output files. AquaCrop-GIS prepares the required inputs, executes AquaCrop and presents the results in a geographic information system.

AquaCrop is intended for practitioners working for extension services, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and farmer associations, as a planning tool to assist management decisions in both irrigated and rainfed agriculture. It is also used as a tool to analyze the role of water in determining crop productivity.

In order to be widely applicable AquaCrop uses only a relatively small number of explicit parameters and mostly intuitive input variables requiring simple methods for their determination. On the other hand, the calculation procedures is grounded on basic and often complex biophysical processes to guarantee an accurate simulation of the response of the crop in the plant-soil system.

Learning how to best use AquaCropFAO, in collaboration with international and local partners, organizes workshops worldwide to train participants on the practical applications of AquaCrop. The objective is to improve skills in strategic management towards increasing crop water productivity in rainfed and irrigated production systems. Participants are then able to train other users in their home country once they have attended the workshop.

A series of tutorials, training handbooks and reference manuals are also available online to support users in learning how to best use AquaCrop.

For more information on AquaCrop, visit: www.fao.org/land-water/databases-and-software/aquacrop or contact us at Aquacrop@fao.org

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