Solar Irrigation in Rwanda

Rwanda

This project was designed as part of a wider programme, Scaling Up Off-Grid Energy in Rwanda (SOGER), launched in 2016 with the aim of developing a sustained market for off-grid renewable energy in Rwanda in order to enhance access to energy services for people living in rural areas. Its specific objective is to promote the adoption of small scale solar irrigation (SSSI) in Rwanda. Solar Irrigation in Rwanda (SIR) is a 34-month programme implemented by Energy 4 Impact (E4I) with $1 million grant funding from OFID and $803K from co-funders. Started implementing the programme in February 2018 and, following a four month no-cost extension agreed in March 2020 with OFID, completed our field work in November 2020. The goal of SIR was to enhance the livelihoods of Rwandan smallholder farmers and to improve the country’s food security by increasing adoption of small-scale solar irrigation (SSSI) systems. SIR fitted well with the policy priorities of the Rwandan government, which aim to reduce poverty through development of agriculture, including irrigation for smallholder farmers. SIR was carried out in 10 districts of Rwanda, six in Eastern Province and four in Southern Province. SIR supported the implementation of SSSI projects fed by mobile and stationary solar water pumping systems. The portable systems used trolleys, while the stationary ones used fixed structures and elevated reservoirs. The projects were designed for irrigating 1 to 10 hectares of land and pumping surface water from rivers and lakes. The solar irrigation equipment comprised a pump, solar panels, a power controller and piping. The power ratings of the pumps ranged from 400 watts to 12 kilowatts, with discharge varying from 2.5 to 14 cubic meters per hour, and lift varying from 15 to 120 meters. Targeted maize and horticulture crop growers, organized in groups of 4 to 60 farmers. SIR directly led to 1,451 smallholder farmers getting access to 99 SSSI systems. This compared to an original target of 3,000 farmers. Installed 82 individual systems and refurbished three others using hydraulic pumps. Together with our partner Hinga Weze, also installed four larger projects (8 systems) and refurbished another (6 systems). Over 1,100 of the farmers got access to SSSI systems in the last nine months of the programme, which suggests there is momentum for scale up of the technology. SIR played a vital role in developing the market for solar irrigation with smallholders in Rwanda and achieved some important milestones: •Consumer awareness and training of farmers – successfully installed 10 SSSI demonstration projects in 8 districts, trained over 1000 farmers in irrigation and other agronomic practices, organized mobilization events and education days attended by nearly 10,000, and ran four radio shows with an estimated audience of over 50,000. • Engagement with local distributors – installed SSSI systems with six distributors, but worked mainly with three of them (Ignite, SOCOSE and ECM). Supported them in different ways, including direct grant funding by SIR for equipment, getting approval for government subsidies, and logistics. • First financial contributions by smallholder farmers in Rwanda for solar irrigation equipment – Over 60% of SIR’s farmers (884 farmers) contributed between 5 to 30% of the cost of their equipment. Most other solar irrigation programmes in the country are 100% grant-funded. • First ever loans for solar irrigation equipment granted to smallholder farmers by Rwandan banks – Five loans were disbursed from five different local banks for up to 30% of the cost of the equipment. While farmers were not particularly interested in borrowing from the banks, the fact that any loans were approved is an important first in a banking sector that is renowned for being very risk averse.