[ti:Growing Trees in the Desert, With the Aid of a 'Waterboxx'] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Agriculture Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.69]Agriculture Report. [00:04.99]Pieter Hoff used to export [00:07.37]lilies and tulips [00:09.61]from the Netherlands. [00:11.17]He retired from the flower [00:13.47]export business seven years ago. [00:16.14]Now, he is trying to help people [00:18.94] grow trees and plants [00:21.18]in the desert -- and save water. [00:24.29]In many places, [00:26.22]much of the freshwater supply [00:29.02]is used for irrigation. [00:31.07]Yet most of that water [00:33.56]may be lost through evaporation [00:36.42]into the air. [00:38.23]So Pieter Hoff has invented [00:41.15]a simple plastic device [00:43.33]called the Groasis Waterboxx. [00:46.00]He says he got the idea from nature. [00:50.23]PIETER HOFF: "If you look at nature, [00:52.10]and I give an example [00:53.22]in your own country, [00:54.09]if you look to the Rocky Mountains [00:56.11]of the Sierra Nevada, [00:57.29]you find trees all over the mountains. [00:58.41]So trees are actually [00:59.90]able to grow on rocks. [01:01.21]They have very strong roots." [01:03.01]Mr. Hoff says the trick [01:05.13]is that nature does not [01:07.18]dig a hole like we humans [01:09.61]do to plant seeds. [01:11.41]Nature plants the seeds [01:14.08]through birds or animals [01:16.51]on top of the soil. [01:18.31]Their waste then acts as a cover. [01:21.80]It prevents the humidity [01:24.54]in the soil from evaporating. [01:26.59]The Dutch inventor says [01:29.26]he is simply copying that system. [01:32.25]The Waterboxx is a round device [01:35.98]about the size of a motorcycle tire. [01:39.71]It sits flat on the ground [01:42.33]with the bottom open to the earth. [01:45.12]Seeds or a young planting [01:48.36]grow out of a hole in the center. [01:50.85]Some people call the Waterboxx [01:53.90]a water battery because of [01:56.51]its ability to collect [01:58.25]and store water. [01:59.80]The cover has deep ridges. [02:03.23]These collect rainwater. [02:06.15]But the device is designed [02:08.76]to collect water even [02:11.19]when there is no rain. [02:13.24]The cover gets cold during [02:16.48]the night and creates condensation. [02:19.40]The water is collected through [02:22.57]two holes and in the holes [02:25.31]there is a siphon to carry it [02:28.17]to the soil. [02:29.48]Pieter Hoff says the nice thing [02:32.59]about the siphons is that, [02:34.76]once collected, the water [02:36.94]is not able to evaporate anymore. [02:40.05]The roots of the plant [02:42.91]may have to grow several [02:44.97]meters deep to reach groundwater. [02:48.26]Once growth is established, [02:51.19]the box can be removed and used [02:54.36]to start another planting. [02:56.66]The company also makes [02:59.15]a version for one-time use. [03:01.88]Researchers at Mohammed [03:05.00]the First University [03:06.24]in Oujda, Morocco, [03:08.17]tested the Waterboxx [03:10.10]for three years in the Sahara. [03:12.83]They said close to ninety percent [03:16.50]of the trees planted [03:18.37]with the device survived. [03:20.30]Without it, they said, [03:22.66]only about ten percent survived. [03:26.15]Pieter Hoff says he is now [03:29.63]doing experiments [03:30.94]with twenty thousand Waterboxxes [03:33.92]in countries including Pakistan, [03:37.09]Ecuador and the United States. [03:40.51]The reusable box now sells [03:44.18]for about fifteen dollars. [03:46.24]And that's the VOA Special English [03:49.85]Agriculture Report, [03:51.77]by Jerilyn Watson and Bob Burns. [03:54.88]I'm Steve Ember.