Honduras is turning to weather modification technology to combat drought and support its agricultural sector. The country’s Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock, Moisés Molina, announced that specially equipped aircraft will fly over roughly 2 million hectares (about 4.9 million acres) of land to stimulate rainfall through a process known as cloud seeding.
According to Molina, each flight will release approximately 100 liters (about 26 gallons) of silver iodide, a chemical compound commonly used worldwide to encourage moisture in clouds to condense and fall as rain. The technique works by dispersing tiny particles into clouds that already contain enough humidity, giving water droplets a surface to form around until they become heavy enough to precipitate.
The flights are being carried out by a Mexican company contracted for the operation, though officials did not specify the exact cost or timeline of the program. The initiative appears aimed at helping farmers whose crops depend heavily on seasonal rains, particularly in a region where prolonged dry spells can devastate harvests and threaten food security.
Cloud seeding has been used in various countries, including the United States, China, and several Latin American nations, as a tool to address water shortages, though its effectiveness can vary depending on atmospheric conditions.
To learn more about Honduras’s rainmaking effort, read the full article at El Diario de Hoy.
Source: Honduras «estimula» nubes con vuelos para que llueva en 2 millones de hectáreas (El Diario de Hoy).
Image: Powellizer, BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).