We introduced the water-saving agriculture solution Porous Alpha at Undercover Farming Expo 2020 in Pretoria, South Africa
Tottori Resource Recycling, Inc. and the South African partner company “Porous Alpha South Africa (Pty) Ltd.” presented the water-saving solution for agriculture. “Porous Alpha” the multi-functional foamed glass material , was showed at Undercover Farming Expo 2020 (“UCF Expo”). The event took place at CSIR Convention Center in Pretoria, South Africa from 24th to 25th February 2020.
South Africa has the second-largest economy in Africa and has thriving agriculture in the production of vegetables and fruits. On the other hand, it has suffered from recurrent drought and the restrictions on the use of agricultural water are implemented in some areas. The availability of water resources is one of the significant bottlenecks. Under this circumstance, in South Africa, the technology of undercover farming is giving attention to the efficient use of limited water resources and agriculturally suitable land in arid lands.
By mixing “Porous alpha” into the soil, the water retention capacity and the aeration in the soil are improved. Irrigation water consumption can be reduced by 50% alongside with keeping or improving yield. The technology brought successful results in many regions, including Japan, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
(Please see here for the result of the experimentation)
Our local partner in South Africa established Porous Alpha South Africa (Pty) Ltd. in April 2019 to promote the water-saving agricultural technologies by using Porous Alpha in the Southern Africa region.
From August 2019, TRR and Porous Alpha South Africa have started a pilot project of Porous Alpha. UITVLUGT in Western Cape, a table grape farm, is developing this project under the program “Support for market development to solve a problem in the food value chain in Africa and other countries”. This program provides financial and technical support by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (“MAFF”)”.
In this UCF Expo, we introduced the technology to improve the productivity in farming, by using glass foamed material “Porous Alpha” to reduce water usage.
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