Design and Technical Evaluation of LISA (Local Irrigation System Assessment): A Mobile and Web-Based Platform for Farm Water Availability Monitoring
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This study presents the development and evaluation of the Local Irrigation System Assessment (LISA), a web-based platform designed to monitor farm water availability and support informed irrigation management. The core objective of the research is to address the lack of accessible, real-time irrigation monitoring tools for rural farming communities, particularly in low-bandwidth environments. LISA was developed using open-source web technologies, with a focus on usability, responsiveness, and accessibility. The system features a dashboard for monitoring water availability, user-specific data visualization, and notification alerts to assist farmers and agricultural stakeholders make timely irrigation decisions. The development process followed a user-centred and iterative design approach to ensure simplicity for users with varying levels of digital literacy. To evaluate the platform's technical quality, the study employed Google Lighthouse, an automated auditing tool for web performance. The website was assessed across four key metrics: Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Evaluation results demonstrated high scores in Accessibility and SEO, indicating strong compliance with global web standards and discoverability. Best Practices scores confirmed adherence to modern development protocols, while Performance scores identified optimization opportunities, particularly in image compression and script loading. This research contributes a practical framework for building web platforms that meet critical technical standards in rural and agricultural contexts. The study highlights how digital platforms can be optimized for broader adoption and greater impact by integrating usability with performance evaluation tools. The LISA platform exemplifies how data-driven tools can be leveraged to empower local farmers and improve the effectiveness of irrigation systems through timely, accessible, and actionable insights.
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