2026 El Niño: Managing Root-Zone Moisture When Water Is Limited

SOCO explains where soil hydrogels can help retain moisture and what growers should consider when irrigation water is limited.

CHINO, Calif., Nov. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As the 2026 El Niño event continues to intensify, agricultural regions across Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America face drought conditions and growing pressure on irrigation supplies. Described as one of the strongest events on record, the phenomenon is projected to cause billions in agricultural losses, raising concerns about food security and the need for climate-resilient farming practices.

According to reports from the United Nations World Food Programme and regional meteorological agencies, Indonesia, India, the Philippines and South Africa are among the countries experiencing significant impacts. For growers facing depleted water supplies and uncertain planting conditions, managing moisture in the root zone is an important part of the response.

The Growing Crisis: Water Scarcity and Food Security

The challenge extends beyond a single harvest. Prolonged water shortages can disrupt planting schedules and leave growers with fewer options for maintaining crop production. Smallholder farmers with limited irrigation infrastructure face particular difficulties when rainfall becomes less reliable.

Adapting to these pressures requires practical measures that fit existing farming systems. Alongside irrigation planning and soil management, technologies that help retain moisture around plant roots can give growers another tool for managing dry periods.

"El Niño-related water stress is putting pressure on farming systems," said a regional agricultural analyst. "Growers need practical solutions that fit their existing operations and help crops make better use of available water."

Soil Water Retention: Supporting the Root Zone

Qingdao SOCO New Material Co., Ltd., a provider of soil hydrogel technologies, is working with agricultural partners on water retention solutions for drought-prone growing conditions. The company's biodegradable soil hydrogel are designed to absorb and retain moisture and make stored water available as the surrounding root zone dries.

The aim is to improve the availability of water already supplied through rainfall or irrigation. Depending on the crop, soil, water quality and application method, soil hydrogels may help maintain root-zone moisture between watering events and support plant establishment during dry periods.

Benefits described in SOCO's field applications include:

• Longer intervals between irrigation events where local conditions allow.
• Improved moisture retention within the treated root zone.
• Support for transplant establishment and crop performance during dry periods.

These applications form part of a wider approach to water management. Matching product selection and dosage to the growing environment is essential to evaluating their practical value.

Building Climate-Adaptive Agriculture

SOCO's Soil Hydrogel are designed to help growers manage moisture in the root zone during dry periods. The company's approach addresses immediate drought challenges while supporting growers' longer-term efforts to use water more efficiently. "Our goal is to help growers make better use of the water available to them," said a SOCO technical representative. "As climate pressures increase, practical tools for root-zone moisture management can support more resilient production systems."

SOCO provides customized soil hydrogel solutions and technical guidance to partners across the Americas, Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Where available, local agronomists and distribution partners help tailor product recommendations to regional growing conditions and crop needs.

A Call for Proactive Adaptation

As the agricultural sector responds to El Niño-related water stress, the immediate priority is to protect production while preparing for future uncertainty. Water management decisions need to reflect local conditions, available resources and the requirements of each crop.

For SOCO, soil water retention technologies are one component of that response. By helping growers evaluate root-zone moisture management within their existing practices, the company aims to support more efficient use of water and greater resilience during dry periods.

For more information about SOCO soil hydrogel technologies and their agricultural applications, visit [www.socopolymer.com].

About Qingdao SOCO New Material Co., Ltd.

Founded in 2009, SOCO® Group is a technology-driven manufacturer specializing in water-absorbing and retention solutions for agricultural and industrial applications. The company focuses on application-led research and development, developing customized solutions tailored to specific operating needs across industrial and infrastructure settings. Through continued product development and collaboration with global partners, SOCO® supports customers with solutions designed to improve water management, resource efficiency, and project performance.

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2026 El Niño: Managing Root-Zone Moisture When Water Is Limited

Why fraud prevention in B2B payments starts with understanding the business, not just the transaction

BANGKOK, Nov. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, in response to the growing threat of cyber-enabled fraud, Bill Deng, Founder & CEO of XTransfer, has shared Three Lessons from the Front Line. Financial inclusion has been a quiet success: the World Bank's Global Findex 2025 puts account ownership at 79% of adults, up 28 points in a decade. But the Global Anti-Scam Alliance reports nearly 60% of adults encountered a scam in 2025, and a quarter lost money. Faster rails speed up legitimate and fraudulent payments alike. The Bangkok Blueprint, launched by the IMF, World Bank Group and Bank of Thailand at the 2026 Annual Meetings, frames the response correctly: cyber-enabled fraud is an ecosystem problem no single institution can solve alone.

A framework sets the direction; it does not tell an operator what to do when a payment looks unusual. Three lessons from the front line.

Speed is not the same as judgement

Automation has transformed screening. It absorbs volume no team could handle and flags anomalies in seconds. But consistency is not understanding. A model can say a transaction deviates; it cannot say whether that reflects a new customer, a seasonal order-book shift, or a fraud typology never seen in training. In B2B payments, the payment message carries almost none of the commercial history behind it: the inquiry, purchase order, shipment, invoice. Reading the underlying trade is often what separates an unusual but legitimate payment from a suspicious one. Frontline teams who know how a small exporter operates belong inside the control environment.

Share the principles; calibrate the controls

Asia-Pacific is the best test bed precisely because it is heterogeneous: regulation, rails, customer behaviour and fraud patterns differ sharply across markets. Exporting one operating model is a category error. What travels is a common language, shared risk principles and typology frameworks describing how schemes are structured, not one prescribed technical response. Controls must be calibrated locally. A multi-market compliance footprint earns its keep here: operating under several regulators forces you to separate what is universal from what is merely habitual.

Intelligence should move as fast as fraud

Fraud techniques migrate; a pattern seen in one corridor reappears, adapted, in another. If every institution treats detection as a private asset, everyone downstream starts late. Regulator-supervised, privacy-protecting sharing can turn one market's signal into another's early warning, without identical rules everywhere. More connected SME payment infrastructure helps too: today it is fragmented among banks, providers and jurisdictions, each seeing a narrow slice. The chain rarely starts in finance at all; it may begin on a social platform, marketplace or telecom network. Institutions, platforms, regulators and law enforcement each hold a fragment, which is why public-private engagement is not a courtesy but the mechanism of trust.

Access will keep expanding; whether it endures depends on trust, the cumulative result of fast technology, experienced people, controls that fit their market, and institutions willing to share what they learn. For those building infrastructure for small traders, the obligation is simple: make the safe path the easy path. Security that excludes legitimate users defeats the inclusion it protects.

The author first set out related views in a WEF Financial and Monetary Systems discussion (23 October 2026). https://www.weforum.org/stories/financial-and-monetary-systems/two-ceos-discuss-technology-enable-financial-inclusion-preventing-fraud

This is an original expansion for XTransfer's own channels; it does not reproduce or adapt the WEF text. Views are the author's own, not those of the WEF, IMF, World Bank Group or Bank of Thailand. XTransfer contributed private-sector experience to the Annual Meetings' digital safety discussions; no endorsement is implied.

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