ISRAELI EXPERT PIONEERS GRAVITY MICRO-IRRIGATION TECHNOLOGY

Prof. Uri Shani, Israel’s former water commissioner and one of the world’s leading water experts, has developed N-Drip, a game-changing gravity micro-irrigation technology that potentially could help poor farmers reduce water use and improved their yield at less cost. 

Writing for the ISRAEL21c magazine on July 13, 2020, Abigail Klein Leichman said that one reason why agriculture consumes 70% of global water resources is the wasteful practice of flood irrigation. “This ancient method, still used in much of the world, not only wastes water. It also lowers yield, causes land and mineral degradation and contaminates water due to runoff of fertilizers,” she noted. 

"N-Drip doesn’t need filters or pumps and doesn’t require energy to accomplish precision irrigation. It even comes with a dripper that is 100% recyclable. Over the past two years, customized N-Drip installations have been implemented in Australia, the United States, Israel and Eswatini (Swaziland) in medium to large farms growing alfalfa, sugarcane, eggplant, kale, sorghum, melons, tomatoes, chickpeas, lettuce, potatoes and cotton. 

Now, says CEO Eran Pollak, N-Drip is also focusing on farms of just one to three acres, accounting for the majority of farms around the world. Most of these smallholders use flood irrigation. “Covid was a driver for speeding up this second focus because of growing demand for solutions for smallholders. They are mainly in developing countries where the supply chains were interrupted during the pandemic and people are left without food,” he tells ISRAEL21c.