Project Snapshot

  • Country / Location: Italy – Emilia-Romagna Region, Northern Italy (Po Valley)
  • Name of Client: Municipality of Bologna
  • Duration of assignment (months): 42 months
  • Start date (month/year): April 2016
  • Completion date (month/year): December 2019
  • Cost of the Project: 68 million Euro (≈ PKR 22,470 million)
  • Value of Consultancy services provided by your firm: 5 million Euro (≈ PKR 1,652 million)

Narrative Description of Project

To improve irrigation water conveyance and application efficiency through comparative evaluation and optimization of mechanized irrigation systems (drip/SDI, sprinkler and surface irrigation), and to provide evidence-based recommendations for large-scale adoption to support sustainable agriculture.

The assignment involved mechanized irrigation systems, which are an integral component of agricultural machinery under farm mechanization. The scope covered machinery performance evaluation, QA/QC inspection, procurement support, M&E, and capacity building.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

  • Conducted comparative performance evaluation of mechanized irrigation systems (drip/SDI, sprinkler and surface irrigation) in terms of seasonal water use (m³/ha), irrigation frequency, application uniformity, and crop yield/quality across different crops and soil types.
  • Assessed fertigation performance and nitrogen-use efficiency under mechanized delivery versus conventional broadcast methods using PFPN/REN/AEN indicators, including soil and leaf nitrogen monitoring and leaching risk evaluation.
  • Evaluated installation quality, mechanical integrity, and operation & maintenance (O&M) practices of irrigation machinery, including pumps, filtration and flushing systems, control units, clogging incidence, and soil–system suitability; issued corrective actions and refined technical specifications.
  • Performed techno-economic analysis covering CAPEX, OPEX, life-cycle cost, and total cost of ownership, benchmarked against savings in water, energy, fertilizer, and yield/quality improvements; calculated IRR and payback periods with sensitivity analysis.
  • Assessed farmer perception, acceptability, and willingness to adopt/pay through KAP surveys and mechanized field demonstrations; developed adoption tools including cash-flow models and design/installation checklists.
  • Designed, implemented, and managed a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system from baseline through mid-term and final evaluations, utilizing digital data capture, validated databases, and decision dashboards/scorecards.
  • Supported procurement and pre-qualification processes by drafting and refining technical specifications, eligibility criteria, and evaluation and inspection templates, and by assisting in bid evaluation where required.
  • Conducted factory and site QA/QC inspections of irrigation equipment, completed conformity verification and acceptance reporting, and followed up on implementation of corrective actions.
  • Delivered capacity building and training-of-trainers (ToT) programs with SOPs for operation, maintenance, filtration/flushing, fertigation scheduling, safety, and record-keeping; supported certification of operators and technicians.
  • Produced complete project deliverables, including the M&E plan, indicator framework, survey instruments, anonymized datasets, inspection and acceptance reports, training materials, and an adoption and scale-up roadmap.
  • Ensured governance, transparency, and compliance through documented audit trails, grievance-handling mechanisms, and controlled data access aligned with procurement and QA requirements.