GovTech Challenges

• Reclamation systems in Lithuania were introduced during the post-war collectivisation period and much of this complex and very expensive infrastructure has not been renovated in the last three decades. The underground drainage system has in many places been buried or mechanically damaged by excessive ploughing or by heavy machinery used to clear areas of woody vegetation.
• Assessing the condition of underground drainage and drainage ditches is an engineering-intensive, labour-intensive and highly expensive process, which is currently undertaken by only a small number of the strongest farmers, who have mostly benefited from European Union or State support because they do not have sufficient funds of their own. Modern innovative technologies make it possible to carry out “spot” repairs to underground drainage in areas where its capacity is reduced, which makes the process of renovating drainage systems much quicker and cheaper.
• However, in order to maintain and improve the productivity of agricultural land, it will inevitably be necessary to undertake the rehabilitation and optimisation of drainage systems at the level of individual municipalities and even at the level of the country as a whole, which is why it is now necessary to carry out an objective and comprehensive assessment of the state of the drainage system and to establish clear priorities and sequencing of the works in order to achieve the maximum effect at the lowest cost and in the shortest time.

• An integrated system for long-term monitoring of soil waterlogging based on open-access Sentinel satellite imagery, ground-based measurements and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence algorithms is needed.
• A long-term archive of space images would allow the identification of changes in the waterlogging status of individual plots under different spring and autumn hydrological regimes over the last 5 years or even longer. This data, produced using the same Sentinel satellite data, could be used to assess the most neglected areas of the drainage system and to carry out the initial design of the reconstruction of the district’s drainage system, from the cleaning of ditches and manifolds to the spot repairs of individual branches of the underground system at the level of the individual fields, in order to re-establish the efficient circulation of the entire system.

Prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place winners:

• 1st prize – 13 800 EUR
• 2nd prize – 3 000 EUR
• 3rd prize – 3 000 EUR

The deadline for receipt of projects or applications for participation is 21 September 2021, 10:00.

For a detailed description of the challenge and the call for projects, please visit the Central Public Procurement System (CVP IS).