Our projects> Scaling the Solar Market Garden

Scaling the Solar Market Garden

Closed

Combination

Agriculture/fishery

Call 1

Benin

Time consumed

Start: 15-Nov-10 End: 15-May-13

Lead Nordic partner

Naps Systems Oy

Country of Lead Nordic partner

Finland

Local partner(s)

Association pour le Developpement Economique Social et Culturel de Kalalé

Other partner(s)

Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) & International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

NCF grant size

415,000

Total project cost

783,066

Technologies

Solar-powered drip irrigations

Methods

Training

Country of implementation:

Benin

Open in goole maps

Description

The project aims to validate the ability of solar-powered drip irrigation systems (Solar Market Gardens) to enhance agricultural cash crop production in off-grid villages in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Kalalé District of Benin is typical of the Sudano-Sahel region i.e. has no reliable electricity supply and inadequate rain-fed subsistence agriculture. The Solar Market Garden (SMG) uses the sun to pump water into tanks that then use gravity... The project aims to validate the ability of solar-powered drip irrigation systems (Solar Market Gardens) to enhance agricultural cash crop production in off-grid villages in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Kalalé District of Benin is typical of the Sudano-Sahel region i.e. has no reliable electricity supply and inadequate rain-fed subsistence agriculture. The Solar Market Garden (SMG) uses the sun to pump water into tanks that then use gravity to feed the water into low-pressure drip-irrigation systems. Three SMGs were installed in Benin in a previous pilot phase, and according to Stanford University’s evaluation the results were successful. For that reason, Naps Systems Oy was invited to lead an eight-SMG installation effort in anticipation of subsequent local, regional and widespread replication.

The project is highly relevant to the country’s adaptation needs as conserving surface water in vulnerable villages and promoting renewable energy are priority sectors in Benin’s National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA). 85-90% of households in Kalalé depend exclusively on agriculture for their livelihoods. Drought is a major concern in the project area, and climate change vulnerabilities include reduced agricultural production, water shortage, and food insecurity. The project will address these issues as irrigation powered by the sun will permit food production in drought years. Furthermore, the project has climate change mitigation impacts as solar energy is an alternative to diesel generators most commonly used to provide off-grid power in developing countries.

The SMG model is innovative since it uses solar energy to power the pumps, combines the solar-power water pumps with the drip irrigation technology, and provides advanced yet simple green technology to remote villages. Knowledge transfer has been achieved through two means. First, through training of local personnel to install and subsequently manage the systems, and second, through the valuable experiences gained from the validation phase and the pilot phase which will be used to replicate and bringing the model to scale.

Show full description

Objective

The project will permit food production in drought years. Furthermore, the project will have climate change mitigation impacts as solar energy is an alternative to diesel generators most commonly used to provide off-grid power in developing countries. Diesel generators generate air pollution, break easily down and are costly to operate in the long term. Using solar energy, the project will result in avoiding up to...