Kazakhstan has launched the Rain Enforcement Program aimed at increasing water levels in reservoirs and providing more irrigation water to farmlands in the country’s arid southern region that experiences chronic water shortages and limits during summer growing seasons.
According to the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, the program is designed to mitigate drought and reduce water shortages on a total area of over 911,000 hectares of arable land in the Turkistan region. It is being implemented in collaboration with the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) of the United Arab Emirates, which has extensive experience in weather modification and precipitation enhancement technologies since the late 1980s.
The launch ceremony was held in the city of Turkistan earlier this month and was attended by Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, Zhaslan Madiyev, and President of the World Meteorological Organization and NCM Director General, Abdulla Al Mandous.
Madiyev stated that Kazakhstan is taking a practical step toward creating a new system of climate resilience. “This is the first time a project of this scale in the region has been launched in the field of artificial rainfall enhancement technologies. For us, this is the beginning of the development of a modern climate infrastructure based on science, international partnerships, and digital technologies. The project is being implemented jointly with leading global experts and creates a foundation for technology transfer and the training of Kazakhstani specialists,” Madiyev said.
NCM specialists will train local meteorologists, pilots, and engineers in the Turkistan region.
The project is expected to improve irrigation, reduce damages from droughts, and increase crop yields. The project’s potential economic effect is estimated at up to 35 billion tenge per year.
There are plans to scale the rain enforcement technology to other regions of Kazakhstan.
Rain-enhancing technologies are capable of increasing precipitation by 10-20% compared to natural levels. Such technologies are widely used in China, the United States, the UAE, France, and Saudi Arabia.
The technology has a localized impact, with a radius of no more than 5 kilometers, and is not associated with the generation of large-scale weather events, according to the ministry.
