UK crop input specialists, Engage Crop Solutions (ECS), will be focusing on saving water in soils at this years AgraME 2023. ECS created a cutting-edge technology in 2013 and this has developed into a game changing technology to tackle the water shortage crisis in the Middle East by slashing billions of litres of water from use in agriculture.

The transformational water technology is called Aqualatus and is proven in over 250 trials worldwide to allow growers to cut their water use by half while still maintaining crop quality.

The freshwater table in the Middle East is dropping by one-metre a year and the region loses an equivalent amount of water to the Dead Sea each year – that’s around 180 billion litres of water.

Experts predict the region will run out of water in less than 50 years at the current rate of use. As agriculture accounts for around 85% of water use in the Middle East, Aqualatus could save as much as 90 billion litres of freshwater a year alone. This adds up to a potential financial saving of $135bn for agricultural businesses.

Aqualatus is applied to any irrigation systems and is a sophisticated blend of 4 liquid polymers which contain billions of microscopic structures that adhere to soil particles and slow the gravitational movement of water to promotes lateral movement, thereby increasing the moisture-holding capacity of the soil.

Surface runoff and evaporation are almost completely eradicated and gravitational movement is dramatically slowed. In ten years of trials across the Middle East, Aqualatus has proved to consistently cut water usage by 50% while maintaining or even improving plant health and crop yields.

Managing Director of Engage Crop Solutions, Peter Blezard, says: “Water has been dubbed the new ‘blue gold’ in the Middle East because the crisis is so severe.

For more information visit Engage at stand H4P040 or visit www.engagecropsolutions.com