KIREHE, Rwanda — Victor Ndwaniye, a smallholder farmer from Nasho, a small lakeside village in Kirehe district in eastern Rwanda, used to irrigate his vegetable farm by collecting water in a bucket and pouring it onto the fields.

However, since 2020, the father of six has been using a new solar-powered irrigation system on his plot of flat land. “The old irrigation system has long been unable to cope with the needs of many local farmers in the region,” Ndwaniye told Mongabay.

The situation has since changed with the integration of solar panels into farming practices in Rwanda, which is part of a nationwide effort to add solar power to various stages of the agricultural supply chain. Officials have set a target to increase the area irrigated by solar power from the current 646 hectares (1,600 acres) to 1,146 hectares (2,830 acres) by 2029. Other countries, like Bangladesh and India, have similar plans.

During the implementation phase, farmers must pay for the maintenance of the systems. At the same time, the government and stakeholders provide financial assistance that helps to make solar energy more affordable to local communities. However, the capital investment for ordinary farmers to acquire the technology is still high.

According to the government’s Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board, the project aims to strengthen smallholding farmers’ resilience to climate-related disasters and promote sustainable agricultural practices to boost productivity. The hope is to avoid emissions associated with diesel pumps, especially in rural areas where access to grid electricity is scarce. These solar technologies do not require a continuous fuel supply, which raises operating costs, and they help address the issue of water availability.

Several villages in Kirehe, a district that has long been prone to drought, have been struggling to draw water from several lakes neighboring their fields. During the long dry season, which runs from June to September, Ndwaniye needed to water his field of fruits and vegetables at least twice a day. This meant spending a lot of time trying to collect water and also meant time away from his fields and limiting how much he could grow. The new solar systems use sunlight to power irrigation pumps that deliver precise amounts of water to crops, even when water is scarce.

For Ndwaniye, solar-powered systems also enabled him to irrigate his remote rural farm effectively using clean energy. With current accessibility, a growing number of smallholder farmers in Rwanda are adopting these innovative solutions.

Latest estimates from Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), show that 299 farming cooperatives and other 1,136 farmers who run small-scale irrigation schemes in Rwanda are operating large-scale irrigation systems that use solar power to address water scarcity.

Estimates compiled from administrative data by Rwanda’s agriculture and resources board show that 87 farming cooperatives, especially from drought-prone zones in eastern Rwanda, are using solar-powered irrigation to increase crop yields by delivering precise amounts of water, thus conserving water resources.

In a recent study focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, researchers from British University of Sheffield demonstrated that solar-powered irrigation systems represent a transformative approach to agricultural practices in Africa.

“Population growth and food insecurity necessitates an increase in farming and irrigation in a manner that protects the environment,” said Saeed Mohammed Wazed, the study’s senior author.

To conduct the study, the team of researchers explored how different countries in sub-Saharan Africa are using renewable energy resources to negate the requirement of fossil fuel-driven motors in their irrigation systems

After multiple experiments, Wazed and his team identified several trends. Studies suggest that the best way to optimize the cost and design of the solar-powered system (in irrigation) is to understand the requirements of the crop and perform extensive site surveys to analyze the working conditions of the system.

“The technology has now become a standard option for water supply in off-grid areas in Rwanda,” Jerome Hitayezu, the head of the boards’ irrigation program, told Mongabay.

Farmers like Ndwaniye say they are now seeing remarkable improvements in their yields, and he confesses that switching to solar irrigation transformed his farming operations.

“Before using solar irrigation, I could only harvest 1 ton of vegetables per hectare. After two seasons with solar irrigation, my yield of carrots and cabbages tripled to 3 tons per hectare,” he said.

Estimates by the World Bank show that of the 183 million hectares (452 million acres) of cultivated land in sub-Saharan Africa, 95% is rain-fed, and less than 5% uses any form of water management practice — “by far the lowest irrigation rate of any region in the world.” This means that farmers either rely on rainfed agriculture or those that can afford it have to invest in expensive diesel-powered irrigation systems.

A goal to boost energy access and output

The World Resources Institute (WRI) says that one of the strategies to overcome energy access challenges in rural sub-Saharan Africa, where most people lack electricity, is to identify opportunities to integrate clean energy in productive sectors, including in smallholder agriculture.

WRI Africa is actively supporting initiatives integrating renewable energy into agricultural value chains across different African countries, including Rwanda, working with smallholder farmers, subnational governments, financial institutions, and local enterprises to scale sustainable energy solutions.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity, making it an obstacle to agricultural economic development. With agriculture employing more than 60% of Africa’s workforce, experts emphasize the need to boost energy access as a critical input to enhancing productivity and food security.

Benson Ireri, Africa lead for energy access at WRI, explained that beyond irrigation (where most energy access initiatives in the agriculture sector are focused), clean energy is also needed at every stage of the agricultural value chain. He added that this includes cooling and refrigeration, value addition, storage and transporting produce from the farm to the markets and aggregation centers.

“Using renewable energy solutions like solar to power irrigation and other processes along the agriculture value chain can lower production costs by avoiding high operations and maintenance costs associated with diesel-powered generators like high fuel expenses. In return, this increases income levels for small-scale farmers,” Ireri said.

WRI is currently promoting the productive use of renewable energies, known as PURE, and says these solutions can enable farmers and agribusinesses to improve agricultural yields, reduce post-harvest losses and boost rural incomes. The institute is collaborating with national and subnational governments across the East and Central African region development partners, financial institutions and local enterprises to scale up these solutions.

A study published in August 2023 by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis shows that many irrigation systems powered by decentralized solar solutions are game changers for sub-Saharan Africa, as abundant renewable resources are not used as much as they could be.

Replacing expensive diesel-powered solutions?

Ireri is optimistic about the use of renewable energy systems in farming. For him, they won’t only eliminate reliance on costly and polluting diesel generators in the agricultural sector but, in turn, could spur demand for clean energy across rural areas. This could address a major challenge for affordable energy programs that try to reach rural communities, he said.

Agriculture produces the most greenhouse gas emissions in Rwanda, accounting for 70% of the total national emissions, according to the 2019 report by the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA).

“The farming community should embrace renewable energy as a pathway to a sustainable, low-carbon and economically viable future,” Ireri said.

In addition to boosting agricultural productivity, WRI experts argue that renewable energy power generation has the potential to create jobs for millions of youths on the continent.

A review by the International Renewable Energy Agency in collaboration with the International Labour Organization, points out that off-grid technologies are creating opportunities for locals in various roles, from technical positions to customer service and community engagement in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Integrating clean energy in the agriculture sector at the national and regional level will also play a major role in cutting levels of greenhouse gas emissions,” Ireri said.

Back in Kirehe, smallholder farmers like Ndwaniye say that with the introduction of solar-powered irrigation systems, they can now cultivate a wider variety of crops all year-round.

“These renewable solutions are helping us to become less dependent on unpredictable weather patterns,” he said.

Banner image: Using renewable energy solutions like solar to power irrigation and other processes along the agriculture value chain can lower production costs by avoiding high operations and maintenance costs associated with diesel-powered generators. A farmer from Kirehe, Eastern Rwanda using solar-powered irrigation system. Image by Aimable Twahirwa.

Citation:

Mohammed Wazed, S., Hughes, B. R., O’Connor, D., & Kaiser Calautit, J. (2018). A review of sustainable solar irrigation systems for sub-Saharan Africa. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 81, 1206-1225. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.039

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