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The initiative contemplates the construction of 79 projects for small farmers, with a view to reducing the costs of electric pumping, making more efficient use of water and increasing the crop area in the region.
The National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA) La Cruz has announced a program in the Valparaíso region (Chile) that promotes the use of solar-powered pressurized irrigation systems.
The project will benefit small producers in the communes of Petorca and Cabildo. Specifically, 79 farmers whose surface area varies between 1 and 5 hectares of cultivation, dedicated mainly to horticultural production, avocado trees, citrus fruits and goat raising. The implementation of the program will mean an estimated 20% reduction in water consumption, also allowing a uniform distribution of the water resource and increasing the crop area. Likewise, the reduction in energy consumption associated with electric pumping for irrigation could reach 100%.
Of the 79 projects contemplated, 39 correspond to the construction of a pressurized irrigation system plus the installation of photovoltaic equipment for its energy supply. The other 40 units correspond to photovoltaic equipment coupled to an existing pressurized irrigation system.
Carlos Zúñiga, project director, indicated that “the valleys of Petorca and Cabildo are one of the areas with the greatest number of hours of sunshine per year, which also coincides mostly with the times of greatest need for irrigation.” |
