Thailand Scientists Make Rain for Jordan: Modern-Day Rain-Makers – News Report
AMMAN – The government is planning to benefit from Thailand’s know-how in an artificial rainmaking process to be implemented during drought seasons in the Kingdom.
According to Thai Ambassador in Amman Isinthorn Sornvai, Jordan and Thailand will cooperate in a new technique adopted by the latter for purposes of artificial rain induction.
The Thai embassy in Amman has received a request from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking cooperation between the two sides in this field through expediting a Jordanian team to Thailand to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills related in particular to a rain-induction technique that proved successful in the East Asian country, Sornvai told The Jordan Times on Saturday.
“The embassy has been recently informed of our government’s approval to share its expertise with Jordanian counterparts. We are in the process of arranging the visit for a technical team from the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation to Thailand and discuss chances of cooperation,” the Thai envoy said.
He added that the visit is expected to take place next year during the drought season in Thailand, usually expected in April and May.
He noted that the majority of Thai people depend on agriculture and Thailand needs a large amount of water for farming activities. Thai farmers, he said, had to wait for seasonal rain to grow crops. As a result, the crop production usually suffered from drought due to low rainfall during the long dry season.
According to the diplomat, based on an initiative by the Thai king, a project, the Royal Rainmaking Project, was launched under which efforts were concentrated on studying and researching artificial rainmaking techniques, adding that the project has proved successful since the first experiment in 1969.
Rainmaking operations have greatly benefited farmers throughout Thailand by solving the water shortage problem and increasing agricultural production to a considerable extent, Sornvai said, noting that Jordan has been suffering from water shortages for agricultural use.
Jordan, which is considered the world’s fourth poorest country in terms of water access, suffers an annual water deficit of 500 million cubic metres and per capita share of water does not exceed 150 cubic metres per year, well below the water poverty line of 1,000 cubic metres per year.
6 December 2009
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