Rain Stimulation, Mexican Technology Bringing Rain To Sonora, Baja California And 6 More States

ALFREDO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST/EDITOR
PHOTOS: SADER

Rain stimulation, a Mexican technological development, friendly to the environment, is a project that has achieved extraordinary rainfall in Sonora, a few days after it started, due to the large number of clouds these days in Sonora, it helps mitigate the effects of drought in eight states, 8.2 million hectares in Sonora, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, Zacatecas and Tamaulipas.

The Federal Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) reported that this successful stimulation of rains was achieved in Sonora, with extraordinary rainfall in a polygon of 2 million hectares (about 5 million acres) due to a record number of flights.

On February 16, a team of the National Commission for Arid Zones (Conaza), on a Turbocomander 690C aircraft, released silver iodide molecules on the clouds, to cause precipitation in the area, they achieved a record of three flights in one day, with precipitation throughout the two-million-hectare polygon, which generated an extra amount of humidity and a huge water runoff towards the meadows and dams.

The abundant cloud conditions in this winter season in Sonora allowed an optimal application of this Mexican technology, friendly to the environment, since in Summer clouds are scarce, said Alejandro Trueba, the man in charge of this project.

The main beneficiaries of the project – launched for the first time in Mexico last year – are the region’s livestock producers, since runoff favors the presence of grass and makes it possible to harvest barley, which is animal feed.

So far this year there have been four successful flights in Sonora, which will benefit the recovery of grasslands thus providing water for communities and agricultural producers, this winter’s goal is to carry out 10 flights in Sonora and a similar number in Baja California. Last year, during the same winter season, six flights were carried out in Baja California.

In the following weeks the stimulation of rains will begin in Sinaloa, an entity in which the state government will participate with a twin-engine aircraft of its property, which is in preparation to carry out this task.

The project will also start in the spring-summer 2022 cycle in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Durango, and Zacatecas, in addition to the Lagunera Region and San Luis Potosí, which will mitigate the effects of the drought and contribute to achieving the food safety.

In 2021, the project made it possible to obtain an average increase of 45.1 percent in excess rainfall, which is positive, since the American Society of Meteorology recognizes increases between 10 and 20 percent as success, highlighted Agriculture.

**Luis Trueba, the man behind this RAIN STIMULATION project that will bring rain to 8 Mexican States with drought conditions**

So, it was possible to mitigate the effects of the drought in 85.2 percent of the stimulation polygons that comprised more than 8.2 million hectares in the states of Sonora, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, Zacatecas and Tamaulipas.

The federal agency stressed that, in this way, the project contributed to giving certainty to irrigated and seasonal agricultural production in the aforementioned states, for the benefit of more than 150,000 inhabitants in the areas of influence, mostly agricultural producers.

In addition, the storage of dams in the participating states contributed with an increase of 53.6 percent and the recharge of aquifers, which is more noticeable in small-scale ones such as the Laguna de Mexicanos in Chihuahua.

Agriculture participates in the project, through Conaza and the Ministry of National Defense, through the Mexican Air Force (FAM) and in coordination with state governments, the National Water Commission (Conagua), the National Meteorological Service (SMN ), as well as the Federal Agency of Civil Aeronautics (AFAC).