Anantapur: Rain guns, which are used in film industry to pour artificial rain during film shooting, are now introduced to save groundnut and other crops in Anantapur district. Experiments are being conducted to find out the benefits of rain guns tackle drought conditions in the district
To put an end to crop failure in the drought-hit Rayalaseema region, Anantapur DRDA project director M. Venkateswarlu introduced rain gun concept in Anantapur, a first of its kind experiment, not only in AP, but also in other states in the country. He had explained the concept to district collector K. Sasidhar who led the concept.
An American based company Limpsay Corporation America had invented the Hose Reel rain gun that could spray showers in an area having a diametre of 56 metres with the help of 7.5 hp booster motor pump.
As the artificial cloud seeding has failed in many cases during Congress regime, the administration concentrated on alternative methods and among them rain gun concept is expected to save crops with less expenditure. Each gun costs around Rs 10 lakh that could sprinkle 20,000 to 25,000 litres of water per hour.
“The rain gun has 250 metres long pipe which can be moved freely in the fields. About two feet water in a bore well or at least a farm fond is enough to pump out water from it through the rain gun,” Mr Venkateswarlu told DC.
