Türkiye's Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı has announced a target to deploy AI-supported irrigation automation systems across 22,000 hectares in 11 provinces in 2027. He made the announcement on October 8 during the opening of a regional products exhibition organized by the State Hydraulic Works Foundation at the DSİ headquarters.
Yumaklı said efficient water use would remain one of the government's main priorities. According to the announced target, digital tools will be used to manage irrigation infrastructure more effectively. The ministry has not yet disclosed the names of the 11 provinces, the distribution of land by province, the program's budget or exact commissioning dates.
Closed-system irrigation target for 2030
The minister said closed-system irrigation represented about 6 percent of total irrigation investment in 2002 and now accounts for 38 percent. The government aims to increase that share to 45 percent by 2030. The AI-supported automation plan was presented as one element of the broader transition toward more controlled water use.
Closed systems can transport water in a more controlled manner than open channels, while automation is intended to support irrigation decisions with field data. However, the technical specification for the hardware, software and decision models to be used in the 2027 program has not been published. There is therefore no newly verified performance figure for the amount of water the planned systems will save.
Previous deployment covered 4,205 hectares
In a 2024 statement, the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry said DSİ had completed AI-supported irrigation automation projects covering 4,205 hectares in Adana, Afyonkarahisar and Denizli. Those deployments used soil-moisture sensors, weather stations and crop-measurement devices to collect field information.
The 2024 breakdown covered 3,333 hectares in Adana's İmamoğlu irrigation area, 410 hectares at Çay-Selevir and 250 hectares at Çobanlar-Seyitler in Afyonkarahisar, and 212 hectares at the Hasanbeyler reservoir scheme in Denizli. Those figures describe earlier projects and do not identify the distribution of the new 2027 target.
Such sensors can provide data about soil moisture, weather conditions and plant status to support decisions on irrigation timing and volume. It has not yet been confirmed that the newly announced 22,000-hectare program will use exactly the same technical architecture as the 2024 projects. More details will depend on future ministry and DSİ announcements.
Aligned with the National Water Plan
Türkiye's National Water Plan for 2026-2035 includes the expansion of AI-supported irrigation automation and electronic water-management systems among its objectives. The ministry's 2026 performance program also calls for automation and decision-support systems at existing irrigation facilities.
This policy framework indicates that the 11-province target forms part of a wider water-efficiency strategy rather than a stand-alone technology announcement. Still, the government has not said which crop patterns, basins or irrigation associations will be prioritized, so it is too early to draw firm conclusions about local effects.
What to watch next
Key implementation details will include the list of provinces, procurement and budget arrangements, sensor and software standards, and measurable water-saving targets. How the systems are integrated with farmers, irrigation associations and DSİ operations will also shape their effect in the field.
Success will need to be measured through indicators such as water and energy use, system maintenance and farmer access, not only through the number of hectares equipped. Those disclosures would show whether the technology delivers sustained operational benefits.
The current announcement establishes a 2027 scope target; it does not mean the project has already been completed or that all systems are installed. The planned deployment across 22,000 hectares in 11 provinces can be assessed more precisely once the official timetable and technical details are published.
