JAÉN, Aug 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Diputación de Jaén is going to collaborate in a project to improve the sustainability of underground drip irrigation systems, which will take advantage of oil mill waste as fertilizer through the use of nanobubbles.
Currently, the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund (FEGA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has been requested to finance this innovation project called Grupo Operativo Subalma, with which it is intended to promote the circular economy and sustainability in the sector olive oil, reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers for soil fertilization in favor of the use of natural fertilizers and optimize water consumption, as explained by the provincial deputy for Agriculture, Livestock, Environment and Climate Change, Pedro Bruno.
The start-up of this project, which has a total budget of 568,758.09 euros, is motivated by the fact that one of the main wastes generated by oil mills is residual water, which comes from both olive washing and of the cleaning of the machinery of the oil mills. “If we take into account the olive production in the last year in the province of Jaén, we can estimate that more than 400,000 cubic meters are generated from this wastewater,” says Bruno.
The destination of these liquid waste is storage in ponds for evaporation, due to the difficulty of its use for irrigation due to its high content of suspended solids and the clogging of the drippers. This initiative therefore seeks to “improve the productivity and sustainability of olive producers in the oil mill thanks to the combined use of nanobubbles with vegetable water as natural fertilizer in underground drip irrigation systems, with the main objective of avoiding clogging one of those drippers “, highlights Bruno.
The institutions and companies participating in this project presented to the FEGA and the Diputación de Jaén are the firm Sistema Azud, which is the representative of the operative group before the administration, the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the Cooperativa San Isidro Labrador de Canena , Asaja Jaén and the company Evergrant Gestión de Proyectos.
–
