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NETAFIM helps small farmers set up its dripping irrigation technology

4. Environment

Biodiversity and sustainable resource management

Context

Netafim is an Israeli company founded in 1965. The company is the global leader in drip and micro-irrigation solutions for a sustainable future. In 2014, Netafim has 31 subsidiaries and more than 2,400 employees operating in 110 countries. Its vision is to drive the mass adoption of its drip irrigation system to fight scarcity of water, protect lands and improve crops.

Objectives

  •  Develop the drip irrigation technology in the emerging countries.
  •  “Help the world grow more with less”
  •  Increase the productivity using the Family Drip System, which helps arid land to be fertile.

APPROACH

Netafim first developed a specific solution for small farmers in developing countries, the Family Drip System, which is a dripping irrigation system based on gravity. It eliminates the need of dripping with buckets and reduces the required workforce while saving water.

Netafim’s practice involves various stages:

First, it identifies farmers that can benefit from the technology then it establishes a trusting relationship with farmers to use the Family Drip System, helping them to finance their loans through partnerships with banks or NGOs (NB: a system costs from $500 to $1,000).
Finally, Netafim offer them a training, a reinforcement of capacities and a transfer of knowledge in collaboration with local organizations.

The main goal is to help farmers from developing countries maximizing their output with their existing resources.

Netafim is able to set up this action thanks to its staff, its fertilizer, its raw materials and its partnership with financial institutions and local organizations.

Netafim also faces difficulties such as access to financial resources and farmer resistance to accept this new technology which changes their way of working. Also, the use of the Family Drip System depends of soil type.

Best Practices spotted in 2014 by the World Forum for a Responsible Economy.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

  •  Increase of the number of farmers using the Family Drip System
  •  Worldwide notoriety (2013 Stockholm award)
  •  10 millions hectares irrigated by Netafim in the world

Benefits

  •  Best fit with plants agronomic requirements: optimizes moisture and aeration conditions
  •  Best use of resources and better productivity : reduces labor and machinery requirements for field treatments
  •  Best preservation of vital natural resources: energy saving; reduces soil erosion and water recycling.
Workforce
2400 (2013)
Turnover
800 millions deuros
Country
Israel

Contact

Rachel SHAUL

Mise à jour le 23/05/2016

Creative Commons Attribution This work by Réseau Alliances – World Forum Lille is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.