Taiwan’s new AI-powered irrigation management system reduces water consumption while increasing tea quality and yield. Photo credit: Marek Piwnicki
The Tea and Beverage Research Station (TBRS) of Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture recently announced the successful development of a groundbreaking new AI-powered irrigation management system for tea gardens. As the impacts of climate change lead to more erratic weather patterns and extreme alternating floods and droughts, farmers are struggling to maintain product quality and sustainability with conventional irrigation methods.
To address these issues, TBRS conducted field testing and monitoring to develop the Tea Garden Precision Irrigation Module, which offers a scientific, data-based approach to irrigation. The module uses a smart decision-making system to determine how much water a garden’s tea plants currently need, giving farmers a powerful new tool for tea garden management. So far, the system has achieved promising results across different seasons.
Easy Irrigation Management With a Smartphone
TBRS director Tsung-chen Su (蘇宗振) noted that, although tea is a drought-resistant plant, its metabolism starts to shut down if it receives less than 20 millimeters of rainfall or insufficient irrigation over a 30-day period, leading to stagnation, withering, and even death in severe cases. To address this issue, TBRS installed 23 microclimate monitoring stations in major tea-growing regions around Taiwan. These stations are connected to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration database and provide precise monitoring of the growth environment and irrigation needs of tea plants by combining evapotranspiration (ET) data for soil and tea plants, generating a value that helps farmers make irrigation decisions. The ET value indicates how much water tea plants lose on a daily basis, helping farmers avoid over- or underwatering their gardens.
According to TBRS, although typhoons caused the greatest damage to tea gardens from 1999 to 2019, drought periods became increasingly severe from 2011 onward, with the 2020/2021 dry seasons resulting in reduced production volumes and financial losses, creating a pressing need for more precise irrigation methods. TBRS research notes that tea gardens can lose 4-5 millimeters of water daily during summer due to high temperatures and extended sun exposure; insufficient irrigation can then impair plant growth and reduce tea quality.
Keeping soil moisture levels at around 60-70% ensures optimal production volume and quality. Based on these principles, the Tea Garden Precision Irrigation Module dynamically adjusts irrigation levels in response to real-time changes in precipitation distribution, soil moisture content, and ET values.
Higher Yields and Better Quality
Pilot testing results during the relatively rainy summer of 2025 showed an incredible 60% increase in bud growth in fields where the system was implemented, and a 24% increase in harvested tea leaves. During the dry autumn and winter months, output increased by 2.2 times that of fields using traditional irrigation methods.
Additionally, water consumption was reduced by 13-24% during the rainy and dry seasons, and tea harvest quality changed dramatically. Chemical analyses of tea leaves grown with the new irrigation system revealed lower concentrations of caffeine, total polyphenols, and total catechins, and that the leaves were more aromatic, flavorful, and richer in aftertaste than those produced using conventional irrigation methods.
Director Su noted that the module combines Internet of Things (IoT) sensing technology with AI computing and that a dynamic tea garden water-status database has been launched, providing farmers with real-time support via a cloud-based platform. Farmers who want to access the system in the future just need to install the proper sensors and irrigation control equipment, after which they can use a smartphone or computer to check moisture levels at different soil layers, determine the watering needs of their tea gardens, and view weather forecasts. The system can also connect with microclimate data to estimate irrigation trends and generate customized irrigation recommendations based on the tea cultivar, terrain, and cultivation methods.