"Harnessing Smart Irrigation and Solar Power for Increasing Employment in Cihanbeyli"

Ahi Y. (Yürütücü), Gültaş H. T., Dündar M. İ., Akbulut V.

AB Destekli Diğer Projeler, 2025 - 2026

Proje Türü: AB Destekli Diğer Projeler
Başlama Tarihi: Temmuz 2025
Bitiş Tarihi: Eylül 2026

Proje Özeti

1.1. Executive summary of the Action

The main objective of the Action is to create sustainable employment opportunities for SuTPs and LHC members through productivity growth driven by the installation of solar-powered smart irrigation systems in Cihanbeyli. During the reporting period, the Action progressed successfully, achieving all major technical and operational milestones.

Within the scope of Activity 4, the Project Coordinator and the Secretary were hired based on their qualifications, and 4 SuTP staff members were also recruited. Within the scope of Activity 2, the complete smart irrigation infrastructure, including soil moisture, salinity and temperature monitoring stations, was installed, and the solar energy system was fully deployed and is now operational, supporting the irrigation pumps. The digital monitoring platform was established and integrated with the field sensors under Activity 3, enabling real-time irrigation management in line with the project’s objectives on resource efficiency and productivity improvement.

All planned capacity-building activities were delivered in line with Activities 4 and 5, including theoretical and practical trainings for cooperative members as well as newly hired SuTP and LHC employees. In total, 112 cooperative members and all six new staff received technical training on water and energy efficiency, field operations, and system monitoring. These trainings directly contributed to performance indicators related to improved technical capacity and enhanced resource efficiency, while also supporting the cooperative’s operational growth.

A minor change was implemented during the period, as officially submitted through a notification to ICMPD, based on the change proposal submitted in September 2025, involving an internal reallocation between Budget Lines 3.5.1 and 3.5.2. The number of soil moisture sensors was revised based on field conditions and seasonal constraints, reducing the total from 100 to 42, which allowed reallocation of €7,115 to the solar system. The justification for this reallocation was mainly based on the on-site assessment, which showed that the irrigation season was close to completion and that harvesting and soil tillage activities were about to start in several parcels; therefore, installing all initially planned sensors would not have been technically efficient and could have required dismantling newly installed stations. In addition, the revised sensor configuration was considered sufficient to meet the project’s monitoring and training needs, while the additional allocation to the solar system was necessary to cover the increased actual costs and the minimum requirement of 176 panels for full system functionality. This adjustment did not affect the scope, quality, or sustainability of the smart irrigation system and enabled the cooperative to procure the required number of solar panels (176 units) to ensure full system functionality.

Overall, the Action was completed on schedule with no major delays. The completion of all system installations, together with the successful implementation of extensive training activities and dissemination efforts, strengthened the cooperative’s institutional and operational capacity and contributed directly to the achievement of key outputs related to enlarged operational capacity, enhanced productivity, and sustainable employment creation. Accordingly, the Action has been finalized in line with its objectives, expected results, and sustainability perspective.