Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Events

Farmers look to solar irrigation: Building the irrigation equipment supply market in Ghana

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November-December 2022

Will smallholder farmers invest in solar pumps to expand irrigated farming in Ghana? Studies point to the potential for solar irrigation in Ghana to enable farmers to adapt to climate change and to increase farmer incomes through various business models. But as farmers increasingly shift to self-supply in irrigation, the market is under the spotlight. While the current market system is fragmented and laden with risks, USAID-supported projects are building the foundation for a resilient irrigation equipment market. This is particularly urgent, given the onset of weather changes and increasing demand for irrigated produce.

The response by farmers and private sector actors is encouraging. Over 530 people attended workshops on solar irrigation in Jirapa (Upper West) and Tamale (Northern), while another 609 people attended workshops in Nandom (Upper West), Nalerigu (Northeast) and Bole (Savannah). Participants are primarily farmers but include companies and entrepreneurs, government, research institutions and NGOs. The workshops – aimed at ‘strengthening the sale and service networks for solar irrigation market linkages’ – were organized by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Pumptech Ghana in November 2022 and co-funded by the USAID-sponsored Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) and Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (AfricaRISING) projects.

Under the projects, IWMI enables market-based scaling of solar-based irrigation bundles through local demand-supply linkage workshops that facilitate direct linkages across private, public and research sectors. Jointly, participants identify financial opportunities for farmers’ investment in solar irrigation technologies, products, and services, and establish networks and collaborations for business opportunities. Discussions also highlighted the need for local distribution centers in rural districts and targeted training of extension officers and private service agents on solar-powered pumps. Rural and community banks discussed approaches to improve access to financial services for farmers to acquire solar technologies on credit.

Demonstrations for solar-powered irrigation pumps (SPIPs) at each workshop and in communities across 9 locations in the Upper West, Northeast, Northern and Savannah Regions led 223 potential clients to explore purchasing solar pumps from Pumptech. With more such activities to build robust sales and service networks, especially for solar irrigation, farmers can begin to look at the sun in a whole new light.

Valuing Multiple-Use Water Services for Food and Water Security: Upcoming Webinar

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Multiple uses of water services (MUS) for individuals and households are gaining attention for the potential to mitigate and cope with crises. ILSSI is collaborating with UN-FAO and the Household Water Insecurity Experiences Research Coordination Network (HWISE-RCN) to reexamine multiple-use water services. The initiative seeks to identify the interconnected and co-benefits of MUS and focus our attention on the relevance of MUS for (1) nutrition and food security amid water stress related to demand and pollution; (2) nutrition-sensitive household and homestead agricultural water management (linking irrigation with WASH investments for synergistic nutrition outcomes); (3) nutrition- and food-security sensitive water management at the homestead and household scale; and (4) gender empowerment.  

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We have initiated a workshop series seeks to draw on new insights in water security research to advance conceptual and methodological approaches to multiple-use water services that can guide international development policy and investments.  In addition, we have also organized panel discussions in a webinar format.

Our first webinar, slated for November 3, 2022, at 11am (CST), will host a panel of experts on MUS, food security, health, and household water security to discuss the potential benefits and avenues of resiliency MUS offers for rural communities in LMICs.  Dr. Wendy Jepson, Texas A&M University Professor and Director of the HWISE-RCN, will guide Dr Nicole Lefore, ILSSI Director, Dr. Stef Smits of IRC-WASH, and Mr Matt Stellbauer, ILSSI Associate Director and Doctoral Candidate, in an hour discussion on revaluing MUS for the next wave of resilient development investments. We will consider how MUS may directly and indirectly enhance water security and nutrition outcomes, as well as consider how current practices may limit or truncate more beneficial pathways to well-being for rural communities. Our forward-looking conversation will contribute to a framework for a new MUS agenda. The initiative will inform FAO programming that supports rural communities and small-scale farmers, at a time when building resilience to crises is urgently needed.

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Governing water—A South-South Exchange with insights from Ethiopia and Ghana

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by Emmanuel Obuobie and Wei Zhang

Reliance on groundwater for food production is expected to increase with climate change in many countries. In Africa, rising use of groundwater poses risks to water and food security, particularly without strong institutions to regulate and monitor use. Communities need to become more knowledgeable and active in managing their common groundwater resources. Toward that aim, partners from Ghana, Ethiopia, and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) participated in an exchange of knowledge and experience regarding groundwater governance and irrigation in August 2022 in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Within the context of the Feed the Future Innovation Laboratory for Small Scale Irrigation project (Games to stimulate groundwater governance: An introduction and example from Ethiopia) the IFPRI-led team has been implementing game-based experiential learning interventions that aim to make the invisible groundwater resource visible by growing understanding of how groundwater behaves as a system under a variety of extraction and conservation methods. The goal of the interventions is to promote proactive management and governance of groundwater resources within communities.  

A farmer (second from right) answers questions about irrigated farming. The visiting team gathered around his mechanized boreholes (blue capped pipe encircled with tire).

To encourage further learning among groundwater-dependent irrigators in Ghana and Ethiopia, key Ghanaian and Ethiopian partners lead local implementation of the games, visiting three groundwater irrigation sites in the Gware, Babile and Kajelo communities in the Upper East Region. In each community, an irrigator shared information and experience on crops cultivated, types of groundwater abstraction structures and pumps used, depths from which water was abstracted, capital and operational costs of groundwater abstraction, as well as market-related opportunities and challenges.

Participants recognized that groundwater irrigation in Ghana and Ethiopia share many characteristics, including the semi-arid nature of the landscape, irrigation practices, plot sizes, increasing groundwater abstraction, and increased volatility in groundwater recharge due to climate change.

Differences in practices were also evident. Ghanaian irrigators access groundwater from both shallow and deep aquifers for irrigation. Abstraction from shallow, hand-dug wells is done using buckets tied to ropes or with motorized pumps, while abstraction from deep mechanized boreholes is done with electricity powered submersible pumps. In contrast, Ethiopian irrigators abstract groundwater from shallow aquifers only, using low-capacity surface water pumps powered with diesel. Wells for abstraction from shallow aquifers are similar in both countries, but the tops of Ethiopian wells are bigger in diameter for motorized pumps and to increase the depth at which water can be lifted. Ghanaian irrigators are increasingly shifting from the use of hand-dug wells to mechanized boreholes to abstract water from deeper and more reliable aquifers.

A farmer (left) interacts with the visiting team nearby a groundwater irrigation well on his farm plot at Babile in the Upper East Region of Ghana.

During their visit to Ghana, the Ethiopian team observed the first of a series of three stakeholder workshops aimed at reflecting on theory of change for groundwater governance and management in the White Volta Basin. These workshops brought together representatives of different sectors of society to discuss the future of groundwater management, the role of the different actors, and the conditions and opportunities which would support moving towards a common vision.

Ghanaian partners plan to visit Ethiopia in January 2023 to learn from Ethiopian groundwater irrigators and partners, thereby complementing and deepening the exchange. The Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), an Indian NGO that has been a key partner of the consortium will also contribute by sharing from their vast groundwater governance experience in India.

We would like to acknowledge and extend our thanks for our collaborators in Ghana, Emmanuel Obuobie & Margaret Akuriba, and Ethiopia, Fekadu Galew and Natnael Teka, for leading community engagement and their role in research and knowledge sharing.

The visiting team interacts with a farmer who irrigates with groundwater at Kajelo, next to a concrete water storage tank under construction to store groundwater for irrigation.

Multi-stakeholder dialogues identify opportunities and challenges to advancing farmer-led irrigation

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In October 2021, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) hosted, in collaboration with our research partners, our latest small scale irrigation dialogue platform meetings in Ghana and Ethiopia. These meetings are part of the Small Scale Irrigation Multi-stakeholder Dialogue Spaces, which we first established in project countries in 2019, that bring stakeholders together to encourage collective thinking across sectors and explore new opportunities and solutions to scaling farmer-led irrigation.

Irrigation for climate-resilient cocoa production

In Ghana, the recent meeting focused on the cocoa sector, and was co-convened with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. The overall goal of the cocoa-focused multi-stakeholder dialogue is to contribute to the sustainability of the cocoa system through a market approach to improved water management and irrigation of cocoa.

This first meeting focused on the cocoa sector and explored producer market segmentation, agricultural water management, and small scale irrigation suitability for cocoa production. Participants represented private sector companies, such as ECOM Trading, PEG Africa, and PumpTech; government stakeholders, including the Ghana Cocoa Board and the Cocoa Health and Extension Division; and research partners such as the Cocoa Research Institute, Water Research Institute, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and Ghana Irrigation Development Authority.

In addition to presentations on the need for, as well as the potential and suitability of, irrigation, participants also discussed approaches to ensuring equitable and affordable access to irrigation for smallholder cocoa producers. Participants also networked and set the foundation to collaborate toward a climate-resilient cocoa sector. A meeting report includes links to all presentations made.

Participants discuss opportunities and challenges for expanding small scale irrigation in Ghana. Photo: ILSSI.

Leveraging offtake markets to unlock irrigation

In Ethiopia, our recent event focused on the role of offtake markets in unlocking small scale irrigation investments. We brought together stakeholder including cooperatives, lead firms, and digital marketing companies to learn from their experiences. More than 28 stakeholder organizations attended the event, either physically or virtually.

Through their discussions, stakeholders found that actors in offtake markets, such as agribusinesses and start-ups, cooperatives, processors, exporters, and wholesaler traders, have multiple roles to play in unlocking investments in small scale irrigation. For example, they can help improve access to inputs, irrigation technologies, loan and credit services, technical support, markets, as well as cold chain and other facilities. Likewise, the enabling environmentis critical in supporting investments in and marketing of small scale irrigation. Notably, local and export market demand, favorable conditions for irrigated production, economic return, policy support, tailored services provided by micro-finance institutions, and information and communications technology platforms all can help create opportunities for greater investments in small scale irrigation.

Stakeholders identified current challenges that hamper offtake market actors’ ability to accelerate small scale irrigation. These include the fact that some aspects of irrigated fruit and vegetable markets are largely informal, with high risks and price fluctuation, low transparency, and unbalanced decision-making power between actors. Limitations in accessing inputs, technology, facilities, financial services, and markets to ensure return on investment along with capacity gaps on contract enforcement, certification, international marketing, operation, and management of cold store facilities and irrigation technologies are also among the challenges. Policy and institutional barriers were also identified, including those related to tax and duty exemption processes for irrigation technologies, packaging material regulations, financial regulations on mobile money transactions, and limited coordination between key institutions.

Finally, discussions highlighted a number of opportunities, including optimal use of agro-ecology for growing fruits and vegetables, irrigation of high-value crops to increase farmers’ revenue by enabling more harvests per year, and increased donor and project interest in supporting small scale irrigation development and creating access to services and technologies for smallholder farmers. The revision of Ethiopia’s agriculture and rural development policy was highlighted as an opportunity to further create the desired enabling environment. A meeting report details further insights from discussions.

Strengthening groundwater governance through social learning

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The Africa Water and Sanitation Week (AWSW), on 22-26 November, was convened by the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) in conjunction with the African Union Commission and organized with other development partners.

ILSSI partners presented a session on strengthening groundwater governance through social learning – view the full session below.

Partners contributing to this session included the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) and USAID.
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