HCM CITY (VNS) — A team of students at the HCM City University of Technology has developed an automatic solar-powered drip irrigation system for grapefruit farms in the central Ninh Thuan Province.

The system has censors that start the pumps and irrigate the farms during the day.

Luong Van Liem, the head of the group, said since the central province has the lowest average rainfall in the country and is hot and dry, irrigating the grapefruit farms is energy-intensive.

He and the four other members in his group have developed a system that uses solar panels to generate power for the pumps.

The system also harvests rainwater and charges batteries installed in it for use at farmers' homes.

"The cost of the system is around VND36 million (US$1,700) per ha of grapefruit, and it has a potential life span of 15 years," Liem said.

"Compared with the manual watering method that uses water directly from pumps several times a day, the system saves VND3 million a year per ha on labour, VND10 million on power, and around 9,000 cubic meters of water."

Liem's team has won the 2012 Holcim Prize for university researchers for power conservation and environmental projects, and a VND60 million cash component to defray the cost of the research.

The cement company has also provided the group VND150 million ($7,100) to install the system at several farms in Ninh Thuan.

If it works well, it is likely to be expanded.