Saving water and fertilizer
Pereira’s farm, Agricola San José, stretches its almond and cherry orchards throughout a lush valley dotted with poplars and palm timber. Previously, farmers relied on guesswork, watering by sight or just following what their neighbors have been doing, he mentioned.
Six months into the Kilimo mission, Pereira grew to become the farm’s administrator and shortly seen some plots have been overwatered. In the future, the proprietor urged him to irrigate the fields for a whole day. “No,” Pereira instructed him, “Let’s wait, evapotranspiration stays low.” He satisfied the proprietor to carry off.
Effectivity improved: By October, his plots saved 1.9 million cubic ft of water in comparison with the baseline, a pointy turnaround from January, when utilization had exceeded it.
“Most probably, we will likely be going through a drought quickly. Water could also be low cost right this moment, however tomorrow it may be costly,” remarked Pereira with a shrug.
Close by, nestled amongst barren hills, proprietor and supervisor Juan Pablo Correa shared an analogous expertise. Previously, he overwatered his groves of walnut and lemon timber largely by counting on instinct. Tracked data have been minimal or inexistent. Correa was initially skeptical, however after working with Kilimo, water use per hectare throughout peak irrigation months dropped 40%, to 353,000 cubic ft from 2022 to 2025.
“I implement their suggestions roughly 90% of the time. [Technology] is an efficient complement,” Correa mentioned. He sometimes finetunes primarily based on labor availability or sudden pruning, or if he sees an unusually dry patch of soil.
Juan Ortega, supervisor of Lo Herrera farm, joined a specialised drip irrigation program for his grape and plum orchards. Via this initiative, Kilimo helped set up trendy drip irrigation gear, protecting half the fee whereas reimbursing farmers later for his or her contribution.
With Kilimo putting in Ortega’s circulate meter, irrigation information is robotically added to their monitoring platform for straightforward water financial savings verification. In October, Ortega’s water use dropped by 85%, with him consuming simply 32,000 cubic ft per hectare in comparison with the earlier yr.
“I now use half of the farm’s accessible water; beforehand, I needed to cease irrigating,” Ortega mentioned. By mixing fertilizer into the water, he has additionally lower fertilizer use by 30%. “That is unbelievable for us,” a joyful Ortega identified. “We’re saving tons of cash and provides.”
Like many farmers within the area, Pereira, Correa and Ortega export most of their produce to worldwide markets through the winter months within the northern hemisphere. Chile is without doubt one of the world’s high exporters of recent fruit, promoting about $7.5 billion globally in 2024, in response to Chile’s authorities.
“Exporting fruit is mainly exporting water, and we should worth every drop,” asserted Gumucio.
