The $1 million (over Rwf85 million) project expected to benefit 3,000 smallholder farmers was launched yesterday by ‘Energy 4 Impact’, a non-profit organisation that supports businesses that provide energy access to off-grid communities in Africa.
Dubbed ‘Solar Irrigation in Rwanda (SIR)’, the project was funded by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and is expected to create the conditions for a sustainable market by increasing awareness, availability and affordability of appropriate solar irrigation technologies.
Small-scale irrigation has the potential to contribute to improved food security and higher rural incomes. However, a combination of factors has hampered its development. These include low awareness among farmers and high upfront costs of solar irrigation systems, as well as limited access to finance for farmers and technology suppliers.
Speaking at the launch of the project, the Acting Head of Land Husbandry, Irrigation and Mechanisation at the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), Hanson Imicomyiza said that the project will positively impact farmers.
“Given Rwanda’s geography and its solar radiation potential, the density of cultivated land and the availability of water resources, solar irrigation can enable smallholder farmers to use the water sources more productively, adapt to climate change and improve nutritional outcomes and rural development,” Imicomyiza said.
The Project Manager at Energy 4 Impact, Espoir Serugo said that the initiative will help women to enhance productivity.
“This support will empower women to enhance productivity, generate more income and increase the availability of food for their families and the communities around them. Solar irrigation will also help them save the time and labour spend on tasks such as hauling water, usually over long distances, for farming,” Serugo said.
The project will be implemented in eight districts in Eastern and Southern Provinces in the districts of Bugesera, Kirehe, Nyagatare, Ngoma, Gatsibo, Gisagara, Kamonyi and Muhanga.
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