During the first SMELLS User workshop in December 2015, it was decided to acquire equipment for each member country (Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Morocco) to make in-situ estimates of soil moisture.
Two types of field sensors were acquired:
- fixed sensors to install on a representative field of potential habitats of the Desert locusts, in a safe place, in order to obtain time series of soil moisture;
- mobile sensors for a survey team from each country to tackle, quickly and easyly, point estimates of soil moisture.
Equipment was purchased by isardSAT and carried to Morocco by CESBIO. From Wednesday, March 23th to Friday 25th, a workshop was held in Morocco, in order to:
- train one contact person per country in the use of mobile sensors and the installation and registration of fixed sensors;
- transmit the sensors to the three countries that were not yet equipped.
The workshop also helped to develop a soil moisture survey protocol with mobile sensors. The participants were:
- Maria-José Escorihuela, IsardSAT, trainer
- Cyril Piou, Cirad-CNLAA-Ibn Zohr University, trainer
- Olivier Merlin, CESBIO-CNRS-IRD-University of Marrakesh, trainer
- Sid Ahmed Bouderbala, anti-locust control executive, INPV, Algeria
- Sory Cissé, anti-locust control executive, CNLCP, Mali
- Sidi Kamara, anti-locust control executive, CNLA, Mauritania
- Jamal Chihrane, anti-locust control executive, CNLAA, Morocco
| Agenda: | Theory | Practice | Meals | Trips | CNLAA |
| 08:00-10:00 | 10:00-12:00 | 12:00-14:00 | 14:00-16:00 | 16:00-18:00 | 18:00-20:00 | Night | |
| Tuesday 2016/03/22 | Reception of participants at Agadir airport | Agadir | |||||
| Wednesday 2016/03/23 | Welcome |
Lecture on soil moisture |
Lunch at Ait Melloul | Ait Melloul-Bouizakarne trip | Software interface of mobile sensors learning | Dinner | Bouizakarne station |
|
Introduction to sensors |
Development of protocols | ||||||
| Thursday 2016/03/24 | Bouizakarne-Fam el Hisn trip | Demonstration and installation of fixed sensors | Lunch | Fam el Hisn-Assa trip | Field test on portable sensors (Wadi Draa) | Assa-Bouizakarne trip | Bouizakarne station |
| Dinner | |||||||
| Wednesday 2016/03/25 | Bouizakarne-Ait Melloul trip |
Debriefing at CNLAA |
Departure of participants to Agadir airport
|
Agadir | |||
| Saturday 2016/03/26 | Departure of participants to Agadir airport | ||||||
The workshop went perfectly, especially thanks to the invaluable assistance of CNLAA staff who made every effort to make it a success, and the two drivers (Hafid Aït Daoud and Ahmed El Barnaki) who drove participants on more than 650 kilometers during two and a half days.