Hydrogel Agriculture Technology -A magic gel to help farmers in drought prone areas

ALSTA HYDROGEL acts as water reservoir at plant roots providing consistent water supply for optimum growth
Sri Akhilaanandam Reddy, a farmer from the Amadagur village in Anantapur District of modern day Andhra Pradesh is one of many benefactors reaping the rewards of a new technology in agricultural irrigation practice that can change the Indian scenario for agricultural water use.
Following the drought in the Khariff season of 2015, Anantapur, Nellore and Kurnool were some of the major districts affected by severe water scarcity. As they lie in the Rayalaseema region (rain shadow zone) and receive the least amount of rainfall, water scarcity has always been an issue for the farmers in the region.
But modern superabsorbent polymer technology has empowered Sri Reddy with resources to cultivate his 15acre farm and produce in both quantity and variety even in drought season.
ALSTA HYDROGEL is a Potassium Polyacrylate based Super Absorbent Polymer. It is a non-toxic biodegradable water locking agent that is directly innoculated in the growing media, in his case, the farm soil.
The polymer hydrogel then absorbs water, expands upto 400 times it’s original size and retains water at root level. The moisture is slowly released as per the needs of the plant and none of it is leached into the soil.
Reddy in his latest disclosure to Chemtex Speciality in December 2016 acknowledged that using ALSTA Hydrogel for over a year has increased his annual sugarcane yield from 25ton/acre to 58ton/acre & an almost double yield in Corn production. He emphasized that initially he could cultivate only 8 acres of his farm but now he uses the same amount of water to cultivate almost 12 acres successfully.
The quantity of synthetic water soluble fertilizers used in his farm has also gone down indicating a shift towards sustainable low water-low fertilizer agriculture system. In addition Chemtex was happy to witness his very own flower nursery which could not have been possible without the use of ALSTA Hydrogel.
Sri Akhilaanandam Reddy and a significant number of modern farmers & horticulturists have already shifted to super absorbent polymer agriculture and recommend the same for every farmer who wishes to maximize farm yield with minimum water and fertilizer use.
Hydrogel in agriculture is a promising method to mitigate problems like water crisis, drought and sandy porous topsoils and countries like Netherland, USA, Australia and several Persian Gulf nations have already adopted it as the best substitute to other conventional methods of irrigation.
Chemtex’s ALSTA HYDROGEL is the ideal water conservation technology to curb the predominant problem of water scarcity in agriculture while limiting environmental losses like ground water contamination and soil degradation by moisture loss.