The meteorological services said on Thursday that Niger has decided to provoke rain using chemical products in response to the drought that has caused a severe food crisis in this arid country.
The technology of “induced rain” involves using an aircraft to introduce chemicals into the clouds, including a mixture of silver, sodium, and acetone.
It is necessary to act on this problem of drought in order to have “many more days of rain and at the same time increase the quantity of rain,” explained Katiellou Gaptia Lawan, director of the Niger meteorology department, who is piloting the operation with the Malian consortium Ibi Air. He pointed out that there are “many prolonged dry spells in Niger that disrupt the development of crops and pastures.”
According to him, the punctual interventions should therefore target crop or pasture areas when they experience “long rainfall respites”. The west of the country, including the Niamey region, benefited from the first interventions at the beginning of August, after several weeks without rain. The operation will continue until the end of September, the usual end of the rainy season in Niger.
The climate in this country is Sahelian, characterized by a long dry season lasting 8 to 10 months and a short rainy season lasting 3 to 4 months, from June to September. The number of rainy days varies from north to south, with annual rainfall ranging from less than 100 mm, mainly in the north, to 700-800 mm.
However, floods have recently affected the desert north due to climate change, according to the Nigerien authorities. In addition to the drought in several regions, other regions are affected by severe floods that have left 53 people dead, 87,942 affected and 74 injured, according to the latest official figures.