Small ceramic balls placed in sandy soil may help to dramatically reduce the 90 per cent water losses caused by current agricultural methods. The irrigation system, called NEWPOR, is on display at the Water and Technology Conservation Exhibition at the World Trade Centre, which ends today.

The idea was developed 18 months ago in Germany and relies on porous ceramic granules absorbing water used for irrigation. The water is then held in the soil and slowly released into the roots of plants.

Antonio Giangrasso, from manufacturers Pfleiderer, said, "In normal desert irrigation systems more than 90 per cent of the water used is lost through sinking down into the earth, or is evaporated by the sun.

"The NEWPOR system works because the tiny balls have been specially created to absorb around 90 per cent of their mass in water. It is held there like a sponge and slowly released for the plants.

"The results have been extremely good, and our testing ground in Abu Dhabi has proved the system saves about 50 per cent of lost water. The trick is to place them by the roots both under and over the soil to stop the water escaping below and above."

He said the balls were still in the experimental stage and were extremely costly to produce, but hoped interest from the UAE government and private companies would eventually lead to mass production.

"We have just completed our first phase of testing in the UAE on a patch of land 100 metres square and it was successful. We will now be moving on to phase two of the project where 2,000 square metres will be tested.

"The trouble is that NEWPOR is difficult to produce and, as it stands, just half a kilo costs $2.50. This is extremely expensive, but if the UAE was to start producing it, tax and transport fees would cut the cost by half. If it were mass produced it would become even more economical." However, Giangrasso said he did not think the region's farmers were quite ready for the move to ceramic irrigation because of one large stumbling block.

"Although we know the system is suitable for the UAE, there is one problem about implementing it. In this region farmers don't have to pay their water bills so they are not too concerned about conserving it. They will only be open to new ideas once they are paying for those 90 per cent losses."