Design and User-Centered Field Evaluation of an Accessible Precision Irrigation Tool and Its Human–Machine Interaction on a Jordanian Farm

Abstract

This work aims to demonstrate the successful, long-term human use of an automatic scheduling-manual operation (AS-MO) precision irrigation tool by farmers on a medium-scale Jordanian farm. Innovation in low-cost, accessible, and water-efficient irrigation technologies is critical as water resources become scarce, especially on resource-constrained farms in the drought-prone Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Prior work has shown that a proposed AS-MO decision support tool could bridge the gap between fully manual irrigation—a common practice on many MENA farms—and existing precision agriculture solutions, which are often too expensive or complex for medium-scale farmers to adopt. Recent developments have also demonstrated that the scheduling theory behind the proposed AS-MO tool uses up to 44% less water compared to fully manual irrigation. However, a functional design of the AS-MO tool has not been realized nor has it been demonstrated on a farm with farmer users. This work documents the detailed design of an AS-MO tool’s human–machine interaction (HMI) and validates the human execution of the tool in context. Through an 11-week case study conducted on a Jordanian farm, we show that farmers used a functional prototype of the AS-MO tool as intended. The functional tool prototype was designed to deliver a long-term AS-MO user experience to study participants. The prototype monitored local weather conditions, generated water-efficient schedules using an existing scheduling theory, and notified users’ phones when they should manually open or close valves. The irrigation practices of participants using the AS-MO prototype were measured, and participants demonstrated successful use of the tool. Users correctly confirmed 93% of the scheduled events using the tool’s HMI. Despite manual operation, a majority of confirmed irrigation event durations fell within 15% of the automatically scheduled durations; relative to the length of scheduled irrigation event durations, the medians of confirmed and scheduled durations were 102% and 88%, respectively. These results demonstrate the success of the tool’s decision support ability. Feedback from study participants can support the AS-MO tool’s next design iteration and can inform the development of other decision support systems designed for resource-constrained, medium-scale farms. This work presents an important step towards developing a precision irrigation tool that, if adopted at scale, could increase the adoption of water-efficient irrigation practices on resource-constrained farms that are not served by existing technology, improving sustainable agriculture in MENA.