Modelação hidrológica e da rega para condições de escassez visando a gestão da água em Santiago, Cabo Verde

Doutoramento em Engenharia dos Biossistemas - Instituto Superior de Agronomia

Climatic, hydrologic and soil characteristics were determined for the watersheds of São Domingos and Ribeira Seca, Santiago’s island, Cape Verde. In the following, pedo-transfer functions (PTFs) for the agricultural soils of Santiago’s island were developed and applied for modelling. Several models of irrigation and water balance – WINISAREG, SIMDualKc, MIRRIG and Temez – were combined in terms of application to enable a detailed study of water management in agriculture focusing the study area. The evaluation of net irrigation requirements (NIR) was performed for the nine main crops practiced in the area. NIR were related with estimated water availability. An analysis of irrigation water demand to cope with severe and extreme droughts was performed considering various levels of satisfaction of crop water requirements. Several strategies/scenarios of irrigation were simulated for each of the nine selected crops comparing the field observed irrigation management practices with various improved ones. Attention was paid to yields through comparing the observed crop yields with the estimated potential (maximum) crop yield. This estimation was performed using the Stewart model combined with the Agro-Ecological Zones model. Information and data gathered through the field evaluation of micro-irrigation systems were used to develop improved solutions through the model MIRRIG. Using observed and simulated data on crop yields and irrigation and production costs an economic analysis was performed focusing water productivity and economic water productivity of the considered crops subject to alternative water management strategies. This allowed to assess different deficit irrigation schedules and their economic impacts in terms of farmers revenue and the associated risk relative to droughts. Results have shown that the adoption of the deficit irrigation together with improved micro-irrigation systems can lead to minimizing non-beneficial water uses in irrigation and to consequent water savings. Results also enabled a more realistic perception of the levels of production in relation to restrictions on water availability, particularly aiming at coping with water scarcity and drought.