Assessing the potential for solar-irrigation adoption to support small-scale irrigation development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Irrigated agriculture contributes 40% of global food production but development in Africa south of the Sahara lags behind despite its important income, food and nutrition security and resilience benefits. One key reason for the low development of irrigation is the lack of infrastructure development to support irrigation development, including roads and rail, electricity, markets, and irrigation infrastructure itself.

Solar-irrigation could help address many of the challenges of under-investment in irrigation. Groundwater can be accessed at a much larger scale than surface water that is limited to surface water bodies, such as rivers, streams and lakes or collected through harvesting of rainwater. As an alternative to hand-lifting devices, diesel and electric pumps, solar powered water pumping systems reduce labor costs, drudgery and can reach more remote areas and those not served by electric grids, which is particularly important in Africa south of the Sahara, where less than 40% of the population has access to electricity, and access in rural areas is even lower. In places without electric grid access, solar-irrigation systems can be additionally used for lighting, cooling, charging mobile phones and for operating TVs and radios.

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