Solid rain: an innovative form of irrigation

07/01/2015

Solid rain is a non-toxic biodegradable powder polymer that is capable of absorbing 200 times its weight in water. Upon contact with water, the powder becomes a gel and can store the liquid for up to 40 days, the magazine publishes Expansion in its Special Edition Innovation in Mexico.

Farmers use it to store rainwater and use it as an irrigation method. They spread the powder underneath their crops so that when it rains the chemical becomes a gel and can store the liquid for up to six weeks. 25 kilograms of the product are required for one hectare of crop.

"The results are extraordinary because the root remains humid for two months and rehydrates repeatedly with rainfall"Says Rico, who founded the company Silos de Agua, in 2002, to market the product.

Solid rain increases the productivity of corn crops five times, says Rico to the magazine Expansion.

"We already measured the results in maize crops in Jalisco where with a traditional irrigation system we obtained 500 kilos of corn per hectare and with this, we obtained 10 tons per hectare", He says.

In addition, the chemical engineer explains that the system allows farmers to save up to 80% in costs, since they use less water, fertilizers, electricity and labor.

His product is already used in Argentina, Ecuador, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, France, India, Israel, Peru and Russia, and he hopes to soon sell it in Haiti.

It also markets it in Jalisco, Michoacán, Veracruz and Zacatecas, but Rico declined to disclose figures on product sales.

"This technology is very useful in the south and southeast of the country, because there it rains a lot and the humidity in the crops is maintained thanks to the fact that it absorbs directly from the roots"Says Carlos Ortiz, director of the career in Sustainable Development Engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Santa Fe campus."In the north it is more complicated, because it is drier".

The south and southeast of the country concentrate a third of the harvested area of the country.

"I think it can grow a lot, helped by a good marketing campaign that consists in approaching the producer and convincing him, since one of the main obstacles to overcome is the attachment to the traditional ways of cultivation"Says Ortiz.

Source: CNNExpansion