Humidity probes already installed in the surroundings of the Mar Menor. / Antonio Gil / AGM
The investment is around 1.4 million euros and will allow monitoring of agricultural plots through a lysymmetry network in more than 44,000 hectares of crops
The regional government will complete in the coming months the installation of 1,000 probes distributed throughout the perimeter of Campo de Cartagena with the aim of
monitor the subsoil and prevent nutrients from reaching the quaternary aquifer that impact the Mar Menor. The Minister of Agriculture, Water and Environment, Antonio Luengo, presented yesterday the development of the project, on the eve of the visit that this morning to the Mar Menor the European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius.
The network of humidity probes will guarantee efficiency in the use of water and fertilizers, which will allow to carry out a precision irrigation system, informed the counselor during his visit to a
farm located between La Palma and Torre Pacheco where the equipment is being installed, with technology from the Murcian companies Inam Ingeniería Natural and WidHoc.
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This tool will help irrigators know in real time how they are cultivating and be able to apply the necessary measures to prevent nutrients from infiltrating the aquifer. The Community of Irrigators of Campo de Cartagena participates in the project to transmit and transfer the data in real time to all farmers. In fact, this community moved ahead half a year ago and has already installed 50 probes on various farms.
Gallery.
Antonio Gil / AGM
The Ministry, for its part, started this program a few months ago, and it has been
one hundred control points, with 200 operational humidity probes. In order to demonstrate that agricultural activity is compatible with the preservation of the Mar Menor, the regional government wanted to visualize this “precision agriculture” project yesterday, coinciding today with the visit of the European Commissioner. The initiative is financed 80% by the European Regional Development Fund (Feder), and the remaining 20% with the Autonomous Community’s own resources. The investment reaches 1.4 million euros and will allow the monitoring of agricultural parcels around the Mar Menor through a lysymmetry network in more than 44,000 hectares of cultivation.
“A leading project”
Accompanied by agricultural representatives from Campo de Cartagena and researchers from the University of Murcia and the UPCT, the counselor stated that
“This is one of the many measures carried out by the regional government to act at the origin of agriculture” and to prevent diffuse pollution from continuing to occur in the Mar Menor.