Rainmaker

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Thai king aims high over drought: "Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej is to oversee personally an artificial rain-making project in a bid to end a severe drought in the country.

He is expanding a cloud-seeding technique he patented in 2002, which involves aircraft releasing a chemical into clouds to induce rainfall."

What next? I know about cloud seeding, but it has never appeared to have been that successful because droughts have still crippled areas in many countires. Why don't they bring rain to Africa so they can grow crops to feed their people? If you had a technique like this, why not use it before the drought kills too many crops, animals and goes on to starve people? Our scientific capabilities really are mind boggling and it'd good that the monarchy in Thailand is using these capabilities to sustain the livelihood of its people. I suppose they were waiting to see what nature would do rahter than interfere with the rhythm of life. Is it expensive? Are their dangers? Will it upset the balance of the planet if we do it?