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Economic growth

Small scale irrigation for economic growth

Small scale irrigation can substantially reduce poverty if it reaches its potential for expansion. Over the next ten years millions of smallholder farmers could benefit from irrigated production of nutrient-dense crops and fodder in areas suitable to it.

Small scale irrigation supports supplemental irrigation for rainfed crops amid increasingly unreliable rainfall and the expansion of production into the dry season. Irrigating farmers are more resilient to extreme weather events across seasons. Farmers can irrigate high-value cash crops and more nutrient dense horticultural crops, though some crop-technology combinations show higher profitability than others. Irrigators in Ethiopia achieve double the agricultural income per hectare during the dry season compared to non-irrigators.

Challenges

The potential for SSI to contribute to agriculture-led economic growth is well documented, but the ways for countries to meet the potential from SSI are less clear. Market linkages remain weak and information exchange between actors within irrigated agriculture, and across sectors, is limited. Resource poor farmers, such as women and youth, need access to technologies and services that enable entry into irrigated value chains, including but not only through appropriate finance. As SSI rates increase in response to market demand for irrigated produce and seed, the development of guidelines and procedures to monitor the impact on the environment – particularly water quality and soil health – will need to be supported. Greater capacity of experts and practitioners is needed across sectors to enable necessary actions to be taken. Public and private actors are both needed in these early stages of farmer led irrigation to reach greater benefits for more people.

*Pozo, a farm-hand, counts money he has received from market women who are buying their carrots on the farm. Because they pump ground water for farming, they are able to farm all year round.*

Top lessons

Availability and affordability of labor are crucial components in the viability of small scale irrigation

Labor availability is often limited in rural areas. Investment in labor-saving technologies for lifting, application and management of water for irrigation can improve profitability. This can also increase the likelihood of adoption and sustained use of the technologies. Without mechanization, low availability of labor is a major constraint to the expansion of SSI, especially for women farmers. Scaling SSI effectively, and ensuring profitability, requires recognition of the high cost of labor.

Small scale irrigation, using motorized or solar pumps, can be profitable for smallholder farmers, and others along the value chain

Small scale irrigation offers a range of opportunities along the value chain for entrepreneurship, innovative business models and SMEs. Value chains for irrigated feed, fodder and seed production can provide new sources of income and profit to farmers and others. Irrigated production also improves the stability and quality of product supply. Differing combinations of small scale irrigation technology and crop types result in different profit profiles. Producing high-value vegetables with motorized pumps can generate three to five times the net profit of irrigating staples with manual devices. Solar pump irrigation of high-value vegetables can achieve a payback period of around two years. The payback period for lower-cost motor pumps can be less than one year, but offers lower returns over time. Farmer investment in pump technologies is often restricted by lack of access to affordable finance.

Strengthening markets for both irrigation equipment and irrigated produce can be a win-win for smallholder farmers, the private sector and others

The private sector can help to foster a robust market system and develop more accessible technology supply chains. Companies can also strengthen agriculture value chains by improving integration. There are many opportunities available to the private sector to foster innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the technology supply, and irrigated value, chains. More inclusive business models, involving partnerships between companies, entrepreneurs and financial organisations would enable more farmers to invest in irrigation technologies and benefit from them.

Farmer investment in irrigation technologies and production requires access to appropriate finance solutions

Farmers become less willing to invest in irrigation technologies when access to capital, affordable credit or other appropriate finance products is limited. The scarcity of appropriate finance solutions places a significant constraint on farmers. For example, a primary barrier preventing smallholder farmers from adopting and benefitting from SSI is a lack of affordable credit to purchase pumps and other irrigation equipment. Payment of the up-front, and ongoing, costs of SSI may only be feasible with improved finance solutions. Greater adoption of SSI by smallholder farmers may be fostered through innovative finance mechanisms and business models, such as lease-to-own, ‘uber for irrigation’, mobile money and others being piloted.

Access to small scale irrigation can lead to, but doesn’t assure, improved equity

Unequal access to SSI significantly undermines the potential it could offer to millions of smallholder farmers and to national and regional economic growth. SSI offers potential for improved equity through increased involvement of women and youth in, for example, processing of high-value crops and animal based food products. Innovative collaboration with, and between, private sector actors in technology markets, agricultural produce markets and finance would enable SSI to play a greater role in fostering advances in gender inclusion. In making the most of these opportunities, the right balance needs to be found between supporting the wider use of diverse, context specific irrigation-related technologies and approaches, and understanding the trade-offs that each of these may require.

Sustainable and profitable scaling of SSI also demands an awareness of the trade-offs. Scaling up the use of pumps needs to be balanced with managing the risks of increased water scarcity and groundwater depletion. Trade-offs often need to be made between different SSI technologies and water uses, and between irrigated production for household consumption, and nutrition or income. Solar powered irrigation has good potential to generate income and profit. Clear alignment between the resilience of people and the environment to climate shocks and stresses is not always immediately obvious.

DOWNLOAD: ILSSI brief on economic growth

Contributing to solutions

Profitability and economic benefits from SSI

ILSSI uses multiple methods to assess profitability of small scale irrigation in different value chains. Research shows that SSI directly contributes to economic growth by generating higher profits and incomes for farmers compared to rainfed agriculture and offers opportunities to entrepreneurs and others in irrigated value chains.

Knowledge products and sharing to improve future investments

Knowledge development and sharing at multiple levels helps to inform future investments. ILSSI facilitates access to information and networking opportunities to market actors through platforms at national level. Research-based evidence form a basis for tools and briefs for practitioners, while publications contribute to scientific knowledge. ILSSI also co-convenes and participates in regional and global groups to help shape policies, programs and projects. In this way, ILSSI can design research and outputs that contribute to more equitable outcomes from nutrition-sensitive irrigation investments and enhance environmental sustainability.

Market systems approaches to expand sustainable SSI

ILSSI research uses a market systems perspective to identify approaches to expand and accelerate farmer-led irrigation. We engage private actors – such as irrigation technology suppliers and producer cooperatives – to test business models, pilot asset-based finance tools and facilitate market linkages within the irrigation sub-sector, toward sustainable and equitable SSI.

Targeted interventions to support equitable SSI investments

Access to small scale irrigation can lead to, but doesn’t assure, improved equity. Smallholder producers – especially women – continue to face constraints. Through generating knowledge on constraints, development investors can better design and target interventions. ILSSI works with private partners to understand ‘bottom of the pyramid’ market segments, and how to target the resource poor farmers to enable access to irrigation technology.

Select resources

Interview: Ethiopian entrepreneur invents new plow that breaks down barriers for small scale irrigation

June 11, 2020 by Marianne Gadeberg

Expanding the use of small scale irrigation requires problem solving across sectors. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) is partnering with private sector actors who can play important roles in developing and bringing to market innovative technologies. That’s what Melesse Temesgen, General Manager of Aybar Engineering PLC, did when he invented a new plow with numerous benefits, including increased infiltration of rainwater. His invention can help make more groundwater available for farmers to practice small scale irrigation in the Ethiopian Highlands.

**What’s the problem with the traditional Maresha plow that is so widely used by farmers in the Ethiopian Highlands?**

The main problem with the traditional Maresha plow is that it creates V-shaped furrows, leaving behind unplowed strips of land. Farmers have to plow at least twice, sometimes three times, and they have to move in a crisscross pattern over their fields. Beyond taking time and energy, this effort damages the soil structure, and it makes contour plowing—that is, following along the contours of the steep slopes—impossible.

Melesse Temesgen is the General Manager of Aybar Engineering PLC. Photo: AfricaInnovation.org.

Farmers are forced to place furrows along the slope, and that encourages rainwater runoff and soil erosion. That’s why the land in the Highlands of Ethiopia is severely degraded. Also, high rainwater runoff means that infiltration and groundwater recharge is very low.

Using the Maresha plow to till at the same shallow depth during centuries has created a hard crust below the soil’s surface that reduces water infiltration and root growth. This also results in soil loss and reduced groundwater recharge. This means that farmers face water shortages during the dry season.

Other problems caused by the Maresha plow include high evaporation of water from soil, difficulties in getting rid of weeds, a need for high draft power, and incompatibility with other soil conservation practices.

**What benefits come from using the Berken plow that you invented?**

The Berken plow solves all of the above problems. It completely tills the soil in the first plowing, and it allows farmers to carry out contour plowing. It tills deeper and disrupts the hard crust. It is also convenient to use in fields where soil and water conservation structures have been built. It requires less draft power, it controls weeds better, and it improves root growth, which results in better crop yields. In combination, this increases infiltration, boosting the groundwater level and water flowing in streams during the dry season. Increasing the availability of water is very important for smallholder irrigators.

Inspecting the Berken plow. Photo: Rudi Schmitter. — Field-testing the Berken plow in the Ethiopian Highlands. Photo: Rudi Schmitter.

How did you come up with the idea?

Long ago, we realized that the traditional Maresha plow is not effective, and we have tested out several different alternative options that didn’t work out for different reasons. Then, on March 5, 2007, two weeks after defending my PhD, I suddenly thought of creating a plow that tills deeply over a relatively narrow strip of land in combination with tilling at a more shallow depth over a wider area. This results in wide furrows, meaning farmers only have to plow once, and it breaks up the hard crust. But coming up with an acceptable prototype was not so easy. The first versions were not effective, while later versions were too heavy for the oxen to pull. These were followed by improved and lighter versions. The Berken plow, which has proved to have an ideal design, is the sixth version and was developed in 2015.

A close-up of the new Berken plow. Melesse Temesgen.

What have you learned from collaborating with ILSSI and our partners?

Working with ILSSI researchers has been very helpful. They studied the plow and its hydrological and agronomic impact scientifically. Their research enabled us to explain the benefits of the Berken plow in a scientific way, which became crucial for the promotion of the technology. This type of support from public researchers should be encouraged, and collaboration should be further strengthened.

**What is the next step to bringing the Berken plow to more farmers in the market?**

We are currently promoting and selling the Berken plow. Farmers like the plow very much, and it is the first improved plow in Ethiopia to be directly purchased by smallholder farmers.

What farmers like about the Berken plow is that it is easy to assemble and adjust, it is easily pulled by oxen, and it is good at eliminating weeds. In addition to having several agronomic and economic benefits, we plan to show smallholders that the Berken plow can also support small scale irrigation and the ecosystem by increasing water flow in streams and boosting groundwater levels during the dry season. We base our arguments not only on the design of the plow, but also on the findings of ILSSI researchers.

Scientists and entrepreneurs battle climate change and water scarcity in the Ethiopian Highlands

March 18, 2020 by Marianne Gadeberg

Groundwater comes from the ground, right? Wrong. In the face of growing water scarcity, scientists, entrepreneurs, and farmers turn the problem on its head and increase groundwater reserves through improved water and soil management.

It is no surprise that millions of farmers are facing increasing water scarcity under the current climate crisis. In the Ethiopian Highlands, this reality strikes especially hard when the dry season begins every year in October. As the rain stops, farmers rely on shallow wells to supply them with water for basic household needs, livestock, and irrigation.

Each year, many of these farmers eventually – say, around December – come to discover that their well has run dry. Groundwater reserves have become exhausted before the end of the dry season. These water shortages have serious consequences for the health and welfare of farmers, and reducing water use has been considered the obvious answer. What’s often overlooked is that groundwater availability during the dry season can be boosted if only water and soil are used and managed right during the previous season.

Scientists from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) are looking at rainfall and groundwater as one interconnected system. This shift in thinking opens the door to a new kind of solution, namely to increase the supply of groundwater, in addition to limiting its use when viable. A new plow, developed by an Ethiopian entrepreneur, provides part of the answer.

Plowing at the same depth for centuries creates a hard crust in some soils, hindering groundwater recharge. Petterik Wiggers/IWMI.

A lifeline during the dry season

Households in Ethiopia’s Highlands rely primarily on shallow wells, up to 25 meters deep, to access groundwater for all uses, according to a survey carried out by graduate students at Bahir Dar University, in partnership with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Being able to rely on wells for year-round access to water is a main coping mechanism for farmers living in a changing climate. This means that communities are left with difficult choices when wells are depleted in the middle of the dry season. What little water might be left in the wells, plus whatever can be carried in from other better-supplied wells, ponds, or rivers, must be used wisely.

When it comes to prioritizing water uses – drinking, washing, watering livestock, and farming – it is often irrigation that loses out, as households have to choose. But, without enough water for irrigation during the dry season, fewer nutritious crops will be available, leaving families hungry and undernourished. Restocking shallow groundwater reserves therefore becomes central to ensuring healthy, viable livelihoods.

A new plow could help

Groundwater reserves are replenished when rainfall infiltrates into the deeper soils. But this natural cycle has been disrupted in the Ethiopian Highlands, where much of the otherwise ample rainfall runs off the sloping hills sides, causing soil erosion and destruction.

For centuries, Ethiopian farmers have used the traditional Maresha plow to till their lands. The problem is that plowing at the same depth for so many years has in some soils formed a hard crust – a hardpan – below the surface. It prevents infiltration of rainwater into the deeper layers of the ground, thus hindering much-needed recharge of groundwater reserves.

The Berken plow, invented by private sector entrepreneur Aybar, is tested. Rudi Schmitter.

Manually breaking up this hard crust can reduce rainwater runoff by more than half, but the work is cumbersome, and without access to suitable machinery, farmers are unlikely to do it. That’s one reason why ILSSI researchers – at IWMI and Bahir Dar University – have collaborated with private entrepreneur Aybar to test a new kind of plow. The Berken plow cuts deeper than the traditional plow, breaking up the hard crust formed in previous years. Emerging research results indicate that the plow conserves soil and water by reducing rainwater runoff and that reduced soil disturbance increases soil moisture.

In other words, using the new Berken plow might increase water stored in soils, helping to recharge groundwater reserves. This would mean that more water would be available for dry season irrigation, and for supplementary irrigation in the rainy season, thanks in part to a private sector innovation.

Limited groundwater on the slopes of the highlands

Restocking groundwater reserves where possible, using tools such as the Berken plow, is not in and of itself sufficient to ensure that farmers have enough water to irrigate their fields. In the Ethiopian Highlands, sloping hills represent a particular challenge.

ILSSI researchers, with partners, have discovered that groundwater reserves are rapidly diminishing in the highlands throughout the dry season because it migrates away from the hillside through the soil. Because gravity pulls groundwater away from the hillsides, sloping lands can only provide significant irrigation inputs during the first three months out of the eight months long dry season, their research showed. In the remaining part of the dry season period, only wells located at the bottom of the slopes, close to faults, contained water.

These results were obtained in a study of the Robit Bata watershed in Ethiopia’s Lake Tana basin, where almost half the area is made up of slopes above 10 percent, which is representative of watersheds in the highlands of Ethiopia. This limited availability of groundwater on the slopes highlight that when planning for small scale irrigation, it is not enough to consider the groundwater recharge only and ignore the lateral movement of water. If the lateral flow of groundwater away from hillsides is not considered, any estimated irrigation potential will be unrealistic in actual practice.

Therefore, introducing conservation agriculture and best farming practices could help farmers grow more crops, even as shallow groundwater travels downhill. Researchers from Bahir Dar University have shown that the combination of best irrigation practices and conservation agriculture helps limit the amount of moisture that evaporates from the soil, thus increasing soil moisture and crop productivity.

Mulching between crops is one characteristic of conservation agriculture. Mulugeta Ayene/WLE.

Better water management for climate resilience

The biggest lesson for farmers and decision-makers alike is that groundwater and rainfall are closely interlinked. Private sector innovations and improved farming practices can help farmers manage water as one system – recharging groundwater as much as possible, in addition to using available water as best as possible. Improving management of rain- and groundwater, by understanding that the two make up one interlinked resource, is a critical climate adaptation strategy.

Four papers on water and climate change impacts in Ethiopia and Ghana

March 17, 2020 by Marianne Gadeberg

Four recent publications from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) investigate how climate change is likely to affect water availability in the future. All four papers present results that suggest needs to put in place measures to adapt to and mitigate risks of plausible climate change.

Gebrekidan Worku, Ermias Teferi, Amare Bantider, Yihun T. Dile. 2019. Observed changes in extremes of daily rainfall and temperature in Jemma subbasin, Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia

ILSSI scientists have been supervising a graduate student from Addis Ababa University who analyzed observed extreme rainfall and temperature in the Jemma subbasin of the Upper Blue Nile basin in Ethiopia. The analysis used data for the period 1981 to 2014. Results showed an increasing trend of annual and summer rainfall and a decreasing trend of spring rainfall in most parts of the subbasin. An increase in rainfall and extreme temperature events was also observed. The study recommends appropriate water management interventions to adapt to and mitigate risks associated with the observed changes in rainfall and temperature.

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Gebrekidan Worku, Ermias Teferi, Amare Bantider, Yihun T. Dile. 2020. Statistical bias correction of regional climate model simulations for climate change projection in the Jemma subbasin, Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia

One of the challenges in climate change studies is selecting the right type of bias correction methods. Biases are systematic errors, either decreases or increases, in actual observations or estimates in climate data. This study, applying several statistical matrices, found that the distribution mapping technique was better for correcting biases than other methods. Distribution mapping is a distribution-based approach that corrects the mean, standard deviation, and extremes and distribution of rainfall and temperature events of climate model outputs. The distribution mapping was applied to bias correct the future (2021–2100) simulation of Regional Climate Models, which showed a decline of rainfall and an increase of temperature as well as of extreme rainfall and temperature events in each of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC)’s three scenarios for plausible future greenhouse gas emissions trajectories.

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Abeyou Wale Worqlul, Yihun Taddele Dile, Essayas Kaba Ayana, Jaehak Jeong, Anwar Assefa Adem, Thomas Gerik. 2018. Impact of climate change on streamflow hydrology in headwater catchments of the Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia.

In this study, ILSSI researchers assessed the impact of climate change on water availability and variability in two subbasins in the Upper Blue Nile basin of Ethiopia. An emission scenario representing the baseline period (1961–1990) was used to predict future climate and as input to a hydrologic model to estimate the impact of future climate on the flow of water in the two rivers in three future time horizons: 2020–2045, 2045–2070, and 2070–2100. Daily maximum/minimum temperatures are expected to increase throughout the future time horizons. The minimum and maximum temperature will increase by 3.6 °C and 2.4 °C, respectively, toward the end of the 21st century. Consequently, potential evapotranspiration is also expected to increase by 7.8%. The increase in evapotranspiration suggests increased crop water requirement in future crop production, which must be taken into account when planning future irrigation infrastructure. A notable seasonality was found in the rainfall pattern, such that dry season rainfall amounts are likely to increase and wet season rainfall to decrease. The hydrological model indicated that the local hydrology of the study watersheds will be significantly influenced by climate change. Overall, at the end of the century, water flow will increase in both rivers by up to 64% in dry seasons and decrease by 19% in wet seasons.

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Abeyou W. Worqlul, Yihun T. Dile, Jaehak Jeong, Zenebe Adimassu, Nicole Lefore, Thomas Gerik, Raghavan Srinivasan, Neville Clarke. 2019. Effect of climate change on land suitability for surface irrigation and irrigation potential of the shallow groundwater in Ghana.

ILSSI researchers applied a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) technique to evaluate the suitability of land for irrigation in Ghana for a baseline period (1990–2010) and future time horizons, namely the 2050s (2041 to 2060) and the 2070s (2061 to 2080). Model results suggest that due to climate change, on average, rainfall will increase by 15 mm in the 2050s and 20 mm in 2070s, compared to the baseline period. Results on average temperature show a consistent increase across most of Ghana, which will increase potential evapotranspiration by 6.0% and 7.6% in the 2050s and 2070s, respectively. As a result of these changes to rainfall and temperatures, 9.5% of the current land area that is suitable for irrigation will become unfavorable for irrigation in 2050s, and may continue to become unfavorable in the 2070s, reducing land suitable for irrigation by 17%.

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Solar-powered irrigation could boost climate resilience for millions

March 10, 2020 by Marianne Gadeberg

Sewagegn, a local smallholder farmer, and Gebeyaw, a data collector, set up Sewagegn's solar powered pump to irrigate her backyard garden in Danghesta, Amhara region of Ethiopia. Photo by Mulugeta Ayene/WLE. — Sewagegn, a local smallholder farmer, and Gebeyaw, a data collector, set up Sewagegn’s solar powered pump to irrigate her backyard garden in Danghesta, Amhara region of Ethiopia. Photo by Mulugeta Ayene/WLE.

The impacts of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa are severe and have far-reaching consequences for millions of smallholder farmers. Rising temperatures, destructive locust swarms, and increasingly erratic rainfall make it difficult for farmers to grow food and meet basic needs.

Expanding small scale irrigation is emerging as part of the solution. When farmers take irrigation into their own hands, they are able to increase production, both by supplementing their rainfed crops with irrigation and by growing an additional harvest during the dry season. Small scale irrigation brings immense benefits, including better nutrition, higher incomes, and greater climate resilience.

Coming up on this year’s World Water Day, which is about water and climate change, we are taking a closer look at what it will take for even more farmers to get started with small scale irrigation.

Putting solar-powered irrigation to the (field) test

During the past few years, ILSSI and its partners, namely the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), have worked with farmers to test a number of small scale irrigation technologies. The researchers looked at how to support farmers to improve agricultural production, water use efficiency, and water productivity, and they addressed challenges related to gender inequality, lack of access to credit, and the technology supply chain.

One thing has become clear: solar-powered pumps can offer an affordable and effective irrigation solution when shallow groundwater or surface water resources are available.

Solar-powered pumps offer opportunities for farmers who are in rural areas without access to electricity. Using solar irrigation lowers costs compared to running petrol-powered pumps, and addresses other constraints related to fuels.

According to a recent report from Dalberg, “These solar water pumps have the potential to reach up to 1.6 million households in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025 and as many as 2.8 million households by 2030—a value of approximately USD 1.6 billion by 2030”. To get the best results for farmers, investments in solar-powered irrigation should be coupled with strengthening agricultural value chains, so that equipment is easily accessible in the market and produce can be off-loaded at attractive prices.

To give guidance on where solar-powered irrigation investments might best be made, IWMI researchers – partially funded by ILSSI and working as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) – developed a methodology for mapping the suitability of solar irrigation. They have now generated maps for Ethiopia, Mali, and Ghana.

During roundtable meetings organized by ILSSI, private companies have shown interest in using these maps to assess where they could grow the market, based on available resources and infrastructure. Technology supply companies have noted that they have a stake in water resource sustainability, and welcomed maps that considered agro-ecological zones, water resource availability and sustainability, as well as market factors, such as demographics and infrastructure. Companies have an interest in both economic and natural resource sustainability, but often lack the resources to individually develop such complex maps.

Mequanent Tena, 20, works as a data collector at the Qoga site near Bahirdar in Ethiopia. More than 1,068 farmers benefit from the use of Chameleon sensor, an irrigation scheduling tool, which primarily uses color to indicate when farmers have irrigated just the right amount. Maheder Haileselassie/IWMI.

In addition to the solar suitability mapping, IWMI – through ILSSI and the Africa RISING project – have tested irrigation scheduling tools. Introduction of irrigation scheduling has enabled farmers to achieve higher water productivity. Farmers were also able to reduce their labor input by knowing when to use how much water, and that in turn meant they produced more and better crops. While the impact of using the tools varied by country, depending on capacity and information access, evidence suggested that irrigation scheduling tools have the potential to improve farmers’ income and enhance water resource management.

Expanding with the help of private sector and development partners

Two main avenues exist for expanding the use of small scale irrigation. A market-based approach seeks to strengthen the equipment supply chain and connect irrigating farmers to produce markets. Where markets are less developed, or there is a need to support resource-poor farmers, development partners and public institutions are making investments in this field.

Currently, with support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), IWMI with Futurepump and partners are scaling out the use of solar suitability maps through an online interactive tool for sub-Saharan Africa. This open access tool, currently in a test phase, can help companies determine where solar pumping would be suitable, thereby reducing the risks they might otherwise face when investing in frontier markets. The tool is currently being evaluated by private sector partners in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Mali.

The tool can also be used by development partners and NGOs to target their interventions and activities in solar-powered irrigation, and it is already in high demand. For example, GIZ found the mapping tool to be a good investment, and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is requesting national suitability analysis in West Africa to inform their regional programs.

The irrigation scheduling tools have also drawn the attention of development partners. Research under ILSSI and Africa RISING in Ethiopia suggested that farmers learn from these tools – and from each other – influencing when and how much they irrigate. These promising results have spurred other efforts. For example, a larger assessment in Ethiopia to build local communication networks for water user associations (WUA) around ICT and non-ICT based scheduling tools is funded by FAO. Along the same lines, a low-cost irrigation scheduling sensor is currently being considered for scaling in other African countries through the Water Enabler Compact under the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation program funded by the African Development Bank.

Future efforts toward outcomes

A better understanding of barriers to and opportunities for expanding small scale irrigation is one important outcome of this ongoing research by ILSSI and its partners. These insights have informed private sector companies, donors, and development partners, which are now using ILSSI’s evidence and related tools to guide their investments in irrigation. IWMI, with the support of ILSSI and GIZ, has developed a private sector survey to further identify systemic barriers in irrigation supply chains.

Over the coming years, ILSSI will continue to help along investments in farmer-led irrigation – enabling irrigation investors to scale and expand – thus contributing to greater food production and climate resilience in sub-Saharan Africa.