Remote sensing—using tools like satellites, drones, and ground
sensors—has changed the way farmers manage irrigation for fruit and vegetable crops.
These technologies let growers keep an eye on their fields in real time, tracking things
like how much water the soil holds and how thirsty the plants are. Thanks to these
advances, farmers can now use water much more efficiently—sometimes improving
water use by 15–22%—by watering only where and when it is needed. Special imaging
techniques, like hyperspectral cameras, help spot water stress in plants early, and
Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes it easier to combine all this data and plan smarter
irrigation schedules. Still, there are challenges, such as high costs for the best images
and sensors, reliability issues in tough weather, and the difficulty of turning all this data
into simple decisions. If we can make these tools cheaper and easier to use, they could
help farmers everywhere save water and grow more, even as climate change makes
things tougher.
Keywords: Drones, GIS, Horticultural crops, Hyperspectral imaging, Precision irrigation, Remote sensing.
