Smart irrigation systems powered by IoT are water-saving technologies that reduce expenses and promote sustainable agriculture in climate-stressed areas.

Scholars based in Morocco, the UAE, Egypt, Italy, and South Africa have created a new model of irrigation that uses IoT, fuzzy logic, and cloud computing to address the issue of water shortages.

This IoT-based system is unlike other traditional irrigation systems, which are fixed to environmental differences in real time. It is based on ESP32 microcontrollers with wired soil moisture, temperature and humidity sensors and transmits data to a cloud system to analyze and interpret it. The farmers can then receive an interactive dashboard that converts technical information about the land into easy-to-understand actionable images to achieve effective water management.

The distinctive assimilation of the fuzzy logic enables the system to replicate the reasoning of humans categorizing soil and temperature developments in elastic collections. This guarantees intelligent adjustment of irrigation times—up to 70% less water than traditional systems.

Morocco field tests demonstrated a capacity of soil to sustain a desirable level of moisture even when the heat was intense. Remarkably, the whole system will be inexpensive (only 32 dollars) and can be kept at the budget of small farmers.

Selecting AI to predict irrigation and implement it is a way to scale cultivation capabilities and enhance connectivity, which, in turn, helps researchers focus on the integration of renewable energy and AI to create a hassle-free and sustainable solution.