Validations of CROPWAT Based Irrigation Practice for Tomato Productivity in Lowland Hot Humid Area of Ethiopia

The efficient management of applied water volume and wise water application is accomplished by irrigation scheduling. Microclimate is the most important factor affecting the irrigation schedule, which determines when and how much irrigation water will be used. The objective of this experiment was to validate the experimental effects of CROPWAT irrigation practice compared to farmer’s practice on crop and water productivity of tomato. The CROPWAT Penman–Monteith method was used to calculate crop water requirement and irrigation scheduling of tomato as compared to farmers irrigation practice. The total water applied were 1087.5mm and 1275.5mm for 2020 and 895.3mm and 1242.6mm for 2021 respectively for CROPWAT and farmers’ practice. The obtained validated result revealed that farmers' irrigation practices for marketable tomato fruit were 25.8% lower when based on CROPWAT irrigation practice, while those for unmarketable tomato fruit were 46.18% lower. In contrast to farmers' irrigation practices, the CROPWAT irrigation system can reduce loss by 46.1 percent for the production of tomato fruit. Similarly for tomato water productivity, CROPWAT-based irrigation systems received an incremental 37.5 percent advantage over farmers' practices. As a result, this study came to the conclusion that CROPWAT-based irrigation practices are crucial for field crop irrigation scheduling and crop water requirements. The study will contribute to bettering tomato fruit productivity and water resource management. This study might serve as a guide for making choices regarding upcoming planning.