Access to affordable solar-powered agricultural equipment

Overview

Modern water pumps for African agriculture.

Sector

Productive use for Agriculture

Platform Service

Enabling PAYG solar water pumping

Location

Kenya

Partner

Commercial water management providers

Modern water pumps for African agriculture.

Modern solar water pumps can provide clean irrigation systems that increase smallholder farmers’ yields by as much as four times, enable them to grow a wider variety of nutritious crops, and mitigate periods of low or irregular rainfall. 4R Digital and its partners are developing new business approaches to enable smallholder farmers to access affordable modern solar water pumps, using the latest solar, and digital technologies, combined with.

Petrol, diesel and hand water pumps are costly or inefficient

Despite small holders producing the majority of Kenya’s food, only 3 per cent of Kenya’s arable land is irrigated and most smallholder farmers rely upon increasingly unpredictable rainfall. Estimates predict that 1.7 million farmers could increase their daily income by an average of 1.8 times with appropriate solar irrigation. However, a key constraint is the lack of financing to enable smallholder farmers to acquire and use solar irrigation technologies. In addition, the costs of serving rural customers can be high, so developing entirely new sales and service infrastructure to serve this customer segment can be prohibitive.

Combining new technologies and business models to serve smallholder farmers and communities

4R digital and its partners are addressing this water challenge in a way that will create new jobs and serve smallholder farmers and their communities. This involves offering solar water pumps through our partners’ extensive sales networks, and making the equipment affordable through the combination of digital technologies and a pay-as-you-go payments scheme. The ability to sell and control solar water pumps means that farmers can re-pay loans for the pumps on a flexible basis, and that our business partners can ensure that the pumps are secure until ownership is transferred.

The opportunity is to make solar water pumps and irrigation equipment available and affordable to tens of thousands of smallholder famers in Kenya and elsewhere, enabling them to increase their incomes and the livelihoods of their families and local communities. This solution can then be extended to the provision of water pumping solutions for rural communities.

Technology can help to increase productivity and resilience to climate change 

This combination of an established water solutions business innovating into pay-as-you go through the adoption of digital technologies can enable tens of thousand of smallholder farmers to achieve more predictable incomes and makes them less vulnerable to changes in weather patterns due to climate change. Solar water pumps can then also provide water in homes and clinics, improving sanitation and reducing the time largely spent by women and children collecting water.

For further information and to discuss opportunities contact:
The Fourth Revolution is Digital
:
The Fourth Revolution is Digital
:
The Fourth Revolution is Digital
:
The Fourth Revolution is Digital
:
The Fourth Revolution is Digital
:
ICON