Some ski resorts use chemical cloud seeding because they believe it increases the chance of snowfall.

The government of the sub-Sarahan African nation of Mali claims it has successfully brought rainfall to it’s crops and communities using a technology pioneered by ski resorts.

Ski areas like Vail and Beaver Creek in Colorado have been using “cloud seeding” to induce passing clouds to drop snow, and the Mali government has been trying to apply it to drought-ridden crops since 2006.

Cloud seeding involves spraying chemical like silver iodide in to the cloud, usually from aircraft or by firing the chemicals from the ground, to induce condensation in the cloud. Resorts which invest in the technology believe it increases the chance of snowfall.

With the help of American consultants, the Mali government has carried out 332 rainmaking flights since 2007, and allocated $32.5 million of its own funds from 2006 to 2010 for the rain project, according to Mali’s Minister of Finance, Sanoussi Touré. He said figures indicated an 18% incre4ase in rainfall over the past two years where the technology was used, leading to a 50-percent increase in the production of millet, sorghum, peanuts and cotton.

Ski resorts in the United States as well as in Auatralia’s Snowy Mountains use the cloud seeding, and the Colorado resorts have reported receiving between 8 and 25 per cent more snow as a result.

The project in Mali follows a 20 per cent drop in rainfall in the country over the past 30 years, with increasingly unpredictable falls, both of which local meteorologists blame on global warming.

“Our dream of creating rain has turned into a reality. When our countrymen see weather reports on national television, they are overjoyed,” said Touré.

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