The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) and Central Water Commission (CWC) proudly present the first joint online International Certificate Course on Micro Irrigation Systems in collaboration with the National Water Academy, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., and Netafim Irrigation India Pvt. Ltd.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
The Global water scarcity and increased demand for food are two main drivers for the urgent efforts to improve food productivity in agriculture, the sector that consumes 70-80% of annual freshwater availability. Micro-irrigation Systems (MIS) are fundamentally designed and operated to economize water application in crop fields. As MIS is an evolving technology, the existing curricula on these systems are still not adequately covered in regular academic programs. Also, the professionals who are already working in the area of agricultural water management (AWM) have had limited exposure to MIS concepts and practices thus far. The proposed short duration certification course offers to fill such existing knowledge and skills gaps.
Course Structure: The course, based on a points-system, has an inherent flexibility to suit the learning needs of prospective trainee through 3 main modules on MIS, namely:
(1) Agronomic Aspects: Basic science of soil-water-crop interactions in various agro-climatic regimes; crop-specific cultural requirements; water and nutrient movements in micro-irrigation environment; irrigation scheduling and fertigation cycles; cropping patterns; and so on.
(2) Engineering Aspects: MIS principles and practices; types of MIS currently used and their suitability in various scenarios; drip/sprinkler design and related processes; power and energy options for different water sources; and commercially available products and services for MIS in various parts of the world; and so on.
(3) Management Aspects: Field implementation challenges and solutions; potential financial support schemes in various countries; operational and maintenance requirements; capacities needed in the communities using MIS; and so on.
Course Requirements: Prospective trainees will undergo an intensive learning exercise through 35 online sessions comprising audio-video lectures, webinars, assignments, quizzes, hands-on activities, and face-to-face online interactions with the course faculty to earn an international certificate that will add value to their professional credentials.
Prospective Beneficiaries: The course is intended for those professionals who are working in the area of AWM and the current students in the academic programs oriented towards broader aspects of AWM.
Lectures/ Presentations on: (1) Rationale for Water Saving in Agriculture and An Overview of the MIS Course; (2) Soil-Water-Crop interactions and Crop-Specific Agronomic Practices; (3) Water Resources for MIS- Water resource planning for irrigation with specific reference to MIS; (4) MIS Concepts, Advantages, Disadvantages, Types, and hardware and software Components of MIS; (5) Dynamics of water and fertilizer movement within the soil under MIS; (6) Complete MIS Design Processes (Drip and Sprinkler); (7) Crop-Specific Irrigation and Fertigation Scheduling including DSS; (8) Installation, Operation and Maintenance of MIS Drippers and Nozzles/ Quality Assurance/ Automation; Troubleshooting MIS; (9) Human Capacity Needs for MIS and Training Options; (10) Costing and Economic Analysis of MIS; (11) Community-based MIS Irrigation; (12) Commercially Available Products and Services for MIS; (13) Case Studies on Small-scale MIS; (14) Large-Area Pipe Distribution Networks for MIS; (15) Solar Powered MIS; (16) Emerging Technologies for MIS; (17) Low-head MIS for Small Farms; (18) Financial Support Schemes from the Government and Private Sector; (19) Recommendations and Way Forward; and (20) Interactive webinars on MIS (One each at Start, in the Middle and at the End of the Course).
Delivery Mechanism: The course is being delivered through a Moodle platform - an open source learning management system designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalized learning environments. The online course include reading material, pre-recorded lectures, videos, presentations, interactions, discussions, webinars etc.
Course URL: https://icid.moodlecourse.com/
Commencement Date: The online course is scheduled to be commended in first week of October 2020.
How to Enroll: International participants, may please fill the registration form online by 11th September 2020 at: https://forms.gle/ZcP3r2gcJmi2KCtZA
For Indian participants: https://forms.gle/T5mNpHRDicn7KL6DA
Course Fee: This year participation in the course for a limited number of qualified individuals is free. You will have access to course lectures/videos, international webinars, and reference material. If you require the International Certificate of successful completion of the course, you will need to pay a fee of US$100 to cover the cost of your personalized online evaluation process. through quizzes and assignments. On successful completion of the course, a certificate will issued on registered email in PDF format.Instructions for secure online payment will be informed to the selected candidates.
Contact:
Dr. Sahdev Singh, Director (Knowledge Management), International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, Email: sahdevsingh@icid.org, icid@icid.org, Website: http://www.icid.org
Mr. Harish Umbarje, Director, National Water Academy, Central Water Commission, Pune (Maharashtra), India. Email: nwa.mah@nic.in, harishumbarje@gmail.com, Website: https://nwa.mah.nic.in/
