The Mayor of San Javier, José Miguel Luengo has highlighted «the use of the latest technologies by our farmers to rationalise the use of water and to achieve a more sustainable agriculture», during a visit with the Regional Minister for Water, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Sara Rubira, to the S.A.T. Los Ritas, in San Javier, to present the Operational Group «NITRO-Control». This group, set up by the Regional Ministry, aims to implement technologies to prevent soil contamination caused by agricultural activity.
In this case, the NITRO-Control project, which comes to San Javier, consists of the implementation of a probe that uses N.Drip sensors to calculate the concentration of nitrogen in the plant, soil and leaching. Councillor Sara Rubira explained that «these sensors are a tool with which farmers can have the necessary data to use the exact amount of water and fertilisers that the plant needs. In this way, no surpluses are generated that could filter into the subsoil and aquifers».
The Regional Minister, Sara Rubira, highlighted the regional government’s investment effort in innovation and technological development applied to the improvement of the agri-food sector and announced that the Community will allocate 4 million euros to the development of a new call for Innovation Operational Groups in 2024 to promote innovation in agriculture, fishing and livestock in the Region of Murcia.
The mayor, José Miguel Luengo stressed the investment efforts that have historically made agriculture in the municipality on issues such as water saving as at the time drip irrigation. «The probe installed today is ten steps ahead of drip irrigation because it allows us to know at all times what the exact needs of the plant are and to rationalise the use of both water and any type of product». Luengo added that «it is important to show society this type of technology that is being implemented by the municipality’s farmers» and regretted «the mistakes that are made when people talk about agriculture without adequate knowledge of the reality.