Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

irrigation

Solar-powered irrigation could boost climate resilience for millions

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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.
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.

Partner news: Benefits of farmer-led irrigation are “immense”

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The following update on the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation was originally published by agrilinks.org.

Why small-scale irrigation?

In sub-Saharan Africa, scarce and increasingly variable rainfall represents a major risk. It severely impedes agricultural growth, hampers productivity and makes it difficult for farming households to meet basic needs. Investing in sustainable, profitable, and gender-sensitive irrigation can help alleviate these threats, create greater climate resilience, and put millions of farmers on the path toward food and nutrition security.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small-Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) has become a global leader in generating evidence that can inform investments in support of the U.S. global food security goals. Our focus on small-scale, farmer-led irrigation is a shift from earlier trends in research and investments that focused on public, communal schemes. The performance of such larger irrigation schemes has often been disappointing – partly due to water governance challenges – but when farmers take matters into their own hands and make their own, smaller investments, the benefits of irrigation prove to be immense.

ILSSI has demonstrated that farmers’ own investments hold high potential to increase incomes both for farmers and actors in irrigated value chains, while contributing to agriculture-led economic growth. Research also suggests that households that invest in farmer-led irrigation have better nutritional security. There are multiple pathways between irrigation and nutrition, but farmers often use their increased income to purchase food for a more diverse, and nutritious, diet. Irrigated production also generally increases the availability of vegetables and leafy greens on the local and regional market, thus supporting more nutritious diets not only for farmers themselves, but communities in general. Achieving greater gender equality through irrigation production is also possible, but requires support for empowering women farmers. ILSSI has focused on the value chain for irrigated fodder, which is showing promise, particularly in Ethiopia, to provide animal feed at critical times.

More food and better lives

As men and women farmers make the transition from rainfed to supplemental and dry season irrigated production, ILSSI has tested new tools, technologies and practices to enhance water productivity, boost agricultural yields, improve health and nutrition, strengthen farmers’ resilience and promote gender equality.

  • Conservation agriculture practices and small-scale irrigation can reduce the risks of water scarcity and meet growing food demand. These methods also improve quality and yields of produce at the same time.
  • Solar pumps for water lifting can bring down costs of irrigation for farmers living in rural areas and are a preferred technology for agriculture and domestic uses. ILSSI has supported the development of an open access, interactive tool for solar suitability mapping throughout sub-Saharan Africa, which is now enabling companies to know where solar pumping would be suitable, reducing the risks of investing in frontier markets, and helping NGOs and donors target solar irrigation interventions.
  • Irrigation scheduling tools can enable farmers to achieve higher water productivity and reduce their labor input by showing when to irrigate and how much water to use. Such tools can also increase farmers’ yields and boost the quality of produce. The use of these water-scheduling tools is being taken forward by donors, including in an FAO-funded project with water user associations in Ethiopia, reaching more than 600 farmers.
  • Fodder for livestock can be supported by small-scale irrigation, and it can help farmers diversify their incomes while securing adequate animal-sourced foods, such as milk, for their families. Promising results are drawing the attention of farmers and government officials in Ethiopia.
  • Irrigation can improve nutrition through multiple pathways. ILSSI partners and researchers have been working with the World Bank to support nutrition-sensitive irrigation investments.
  • Improving access to credit would allow even more farmers to benefit from small-scale irrigation. Microfinance options that could support smallholders to access pumps and other equipment do exist, including new ideas such as “Uber for the farm”, but need to be brought to scale.
  • Realizing the full potential of small-scale irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa requires improving gender equality in agriculture. Not only in terms of access to technologies and equipment; it also means ensuring that women can reap the benefits of irrigation.

Taking solutions forward

Building on research from its first phase (2014–2018), ILSSI is now investigating how to feasibly and sustainably expand small-scale irrigation and is directing more resources to improving access and adoption through market systems. ILSSI is partnering with private companies in Ghana and Ethiopia to test ways to build input and output markets around irrigated value chains to establish affordable, reliable supply for example pumps and to foster a viable, healthy market for irrigated crops such as vegetables and seeds. Solar pumps will be a central technology, along with the critical component of appropriate credit and finance – all part of effective and sustainable business models. We are also partnering with small and medium enterprises and cooperatives in Ethiopia to strengthen irrigated fodder production and markets, and examining irrigated seed production for vegetables. Business models that promote gender equity and opportunities for youth are also being sharpened.

Small-scale irrigation technology and water resources may be primarily used for agriculture, but also provide water for consumptive and non-consumptive uses. ILSSI is working with the Household Water Insecurity Experiences network on the effects of water access for productive uses, on domestic and other uses, toward reducing water insecurity. Our focus continues to be farmers’ own irrigation investments, while also deepening our analysis of the changing climate and water-related risks from household to watershed and basin level to increase both environmental and social resilience.

Texas A&M University System Member