Kazakhstan Launches Cloud Seeding Project in Turkistan Region

Kazakhstan started the Rain Enforcement Project in the Turkistan region, where no rain fell for eight months in 2025. The project will use aircraft and ground-based systems to release particles into existing clouds. The initiative targets more than 900,000 hectares that have become harder to irrigate by conventional means.

Officials estimate the effort could raise annual crop yields enough to save about €65 million.

Planes and cannons will disperse silver iodide or dry ice to create additional nuclei inside storm clouds. The method does not generate moisture from clear skies and works only when suitable clouds are already present. Testing is conducted to confirm that the salts used do not contaminate soil or water supplies.

Past applications have shown precipitation increases of 10 to 20 percent in treated areas.

Specialists from the UAE National Meteorological Centre arrived to instruct Kazakh meteorologists, engineers, and pilots. The training period is scheduled to last two months. “This project is educational, we shall stay here for two months and in that time we shall transfer our knowledge to meteorologists, engineers, pilots and other staff,” said Abdulla Ahmed Al Mandous, General Director of the UAE National Meteorological Centre.

A pilot operating one of the project aircraft described flying into clouds to measure temperature, updraft, and cloud type before operators decide how many flares to release.