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Solar-Powered Irrigation, an Affordable and Cleaner Alternative for Rural Farmers

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Only 1% of Nigeria’s farmlands are irrigated. This means that farmers, mostly smallholders, do their farming during the rainy season. Unfortunately, this dependence on rainfed agriculture makes farmers vulnerable to variations in weather.

In 2020, Propcom Mai-karfi went into partnership with Bols N Sels and others to pilot a business model to promote the adoption of solar-powered irrigation technologies through its Solar Irrigation intervention. Thus, giving smallholder farmers access to affordable irrigation services, reducing their dependence on rainfall, and allowing for year-round farming. It also eliminates the high costs associated with fossil fuel-powered pumps and their resultant emission of green-house gases.

Doris Obed, a 65-year-old smallholder rice farmer from Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State, was one of the early adopters of the solar-powered pumps provided by Bols N Sels. Her motivation for acquiring the solar-powered pump was the increasingly
prohibitive cost she incurred for fueling and maintaining the fossil fuel-powered pump she previously used to irrigate her farm.

Using the old technology [fossil-powered pump] was not effective for me because I spent more on fueling and servicing.

According to Doris, converting to a solar-powered pump was the best decision she could have made for her farm as the solar pump has proved to be more durable than the fuel powered one she had been using and has helped her save money she would have otherwise
used for fueling, servicing, and replacing parts for her former pump. Of greater import is the yield Doris says she has obtained from her farmland due to better irrigation obtained with the solar pump, which has positively impacted her income overall.

…I have saved more money which would have been used for fueling or unnecessary maintenance leading to higher volume of water for and better yield from the farm.

The solar-powered pumps worked seamlessly and did not break down or require frequent repairs unlike the fossil-fuelled pumps that frequently broke down and would be inoperable for hours or days even. Along with improved yield and cost savings, Doris saved time from using the solar pump since she had little or no downtime irrigating with it. Based on her estimation, with solar irrigation she spends
less time preparing and transplanting her rice farm.

…before acquiring this new technology, I spent 5 weeks for land preparation and 3 weeks for transplanting but now I spend only about 3 weeks for land preparation and less than 2 weeks for transplanting.

Doris Obed inspects one of her farms in Taraba State. Photo credit: Propcom Mai-karfi

Doris has not kept the pump to herself. She has started a business providing irrigation services to other farmers who are incapable of procuring pumps for themselves. This way the whole community benefits. She has also assisted another farmer to procure the pump by linking him to the vendor.

It [the solar pump] has improved my status in the community. They call me ‘Comi’ meaning irrigation farmer in the community.

At the household level, Doris used additional income from using the solar pump to finance the roofing of a housing project she had been working. She also credits the pump for extra income she used to expand her farmland and employ more farm hands. Doris is content and happy with her investment in the solar pump.

“I don’t have to buy and transport fuel to the farm, labour costs have reduced, no noise and air pollution anymore. I increased my farm size. started another, and increased my employees, thanks to this new technology. I am indeed grateful and happy.”

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Empowering Women is Empowering the Community

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It is 2021 and women still face significant challenges that hold them back from attaining their potential. Compared to men, women have less access to education and financial institutions, have fewer economic opportunities, face more challenges starting a business, are fewer in leadership positions, and feature less prominently in politics. Economic empowerment of women has been shown to foster gender equality, help women realise their rights, and improve economies. Essentially, when women and girls are empowered, the community is better for it. This is why women’s economic empowerment is an integral part of Propcom Mai-karfi’s strategy.

Propcom Mai-karfi’s poultry production and marketing intervention is focused on helping women acquire skills to transform their local chicken practices into viable businesses, thus, economically empowering them to become resilient to climate change and other shocks.

When Caroline Heniel, a Teacher in Demsa Community in Adamawa State, participated in Propcom Mai-karfi’s local chicken improved production (LoCIP) training, she never thought that over a year later her and a handful of like-minded women who met at the training would be empowered to the point of supporting their community. Sindam Machet cooperative, meaning ‘We are one’, was formed by Caroline and the other women with the primary aim of helping one another and their community. Caroline leads the cooperative and is helped by 20 other women officials; today, they are 250 member-strong and growing.

The decision to form a group started with ten women [at the training] who felt they could make an impact in their community. It gradually became a welcome idea for all the women.

Members of the Sinham Machet cooperative. Caroline Heniel is the sitting, first from the right. Photo credit: Alfred Coker for Propcom Mai-karfi

A patient receiving treatment is shown with other women in the dilapidated community centre before repairs. Photo credit: Propcom Mai-karfi.

The community health centre in Demsa LGA of Adamawa State has been in a deplorable state for as long Caroline can remember. The year was 2019 and it did not seem like anyone was going to do anything about it. This was where the community received medical services. It was, therefore, a shame that it had become a place where most people would avoid if they had a choice. Unfortunately, they did not and so continued to manage it with its leaky roof and lack of furnishings and other amenities.

For over two years, Propcom Mai-karfi has been training women on LoCIP. For Caroline and the other women, putting to practise knowledge from the training yielded and continues to yield results; their flock sizes increased, and their chickens were weightier than ever before. Since repairing the community centre was a goal shared by many, if not all, members of the cooperative, it was unsurprising that once they began generating income from their chickens, they decided to renovate it. Thus, ensuring that the community also benefitted from their success.

The motivation to start came as an aftermath of the training when we started seeing results from applying knowledge acquired. We discovered that from one chicken, we multiplied our flock size within a short period of time. We were able to sell and use the proceeds to support our families. We were also able to support other members of the group who did not have capital to start.

To fund the renovation project, the cooperative pooled resources within the group. Each member was tasked with selling one of their chickens and contributing between NGN500 and NGN1,000 from their proceeds to the project. Upon raising some funds, the project kicked off in August of 2019. However, due to the Pandemic and the ensuing lockdown in 2020, the project had to be put on hold. But, once the lockdown was lifted, work continued in earnest. According to Caroline, the Cooperative has so far disbursed over NGN100,000 to repair the clinic and make it conducive for both the users and service providers.

One of the walls of the community centre before repairs. Photo credit: Propcom Mai-karfi

Although the women raised most of the funds, they were able to harness support from members of the community, including the community leader who contributed NGN5,000, and the ward heads who collectively gave NGN13,000 to the project. Many young men in the community also volunteered to provide labour for the project. Nevertheless, embarking on the project was not without challenges. Albeit all members agreed that the project was worthwhile and overdue, convincing all members to contribute was arduous as some members out rightly refused to chip in. Work continued nonetheless with the funds that had been raised.   

We received support from the community leader and ward heads who made monetary contributions for the renovation. Also, the men in the community, especially the youth, helped to clear the bush and do some minor labour.

The Demsa Community Health Centre after repairs by the Cooperative. Photo credit: Alfred Coker for Propcom Mai-karfi

Even though there still remains work to be done, today, the community health centre is in a much better state and members of the community are pleased and happy to use it. The Cooperative is still raising funds to finish the repairs and to purchase basic furnishings and other necessary items for the centre. They hope to raise enough chickens to sell and raise the funds and are confident that they will soon have enough to commence the next phase of the repairs.

The community is very appreciative, and wherever they meet us they say, ‘thank you for what you have done at the clinic’. We feel very happy about it and encouraged to do more. This is our first project as a group. We are still making plans. We have identified the need for bedsheets and chairs for visitors, and we also want to buy benches, bedsheets, and any other need for the clinic. We are not yet a registered group but want to start the process this year.

The future looks promising for the Cooperative. They are working towards becoming a legally registered cooperative, which will make potential donors take them seriously. They are also looking forward to engaging in more community projects.

Since commencement of the LoCIP trainings, Propcom Mai-karfi has trained over 65,000 rural women across Northern Nigeria and counting. These women have collectively generated over NGN400 million in revenue.

The LoCIP training has really empowered us. The training helped us to know that chicken production is a good source of income, we are able to buy goats, cloths, food from the market. It has really helped us. Thank you Propcom Mai-karfi, we are very thankful for the support. – Charity Anthony Assistant Leader

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Events

Webinar 3: Engaging Policy as a Path to Sustainability

 

Through this webinar, we will share insights and recommendations for improving sustainability of key markets from our engagement work in policy influencing and advocacy. We will explore key regulatory bottlenecks affecting specific market systems in Nigeria, how PM circumvented these constraints and efforts made to drive regulatory reform. It will focus on PM’s diagnosis of the Tractors, Crop Protection Products (CPP) and Community Animal Health Workers (CAHW) markets, share key information for advocacy and policy intervention, progress so far and opportunities to improve market sustainability going forward.

 

By the end of the webinar, participants will understand:

  • how Propcom unlocked access to financing for agricultural mechanisation investments and holistic subsector policy development
  • Propcom’s sustainability of the Spray Service Provider’s (SSP) model through integration of model into NESREA’s Extended Producers Program (EPR)
  • the barrier in veterinary service provision, the role of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHW) in facilitating access to vaccines and related services farmers, and the impact supervision of CAHWs can have in sustaining the programme.

Speakers:

  1. Averti Ayu, Technical Lead, Agricultural Mechanisation
  2. Millicent Lafe, Technical Lead, Seeds and Crop Protection Products
  3. Gbenga Ariyo, Technical Lead, Animal Health

Register here.

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Webinars

Propcom Mai-karfi is hosting a series of webinars to share knowledge and experiences garnered from years of implementing pro-poor market systems approaches in select value chains in Northern Nigeria. We hope that the webinars will contribute to the pool of knowledge in the market systems development, agriculture and livelihoods spaces and provide a platform to discuss topics that are relevant to strengthening market systems in Nigeria, particularly Northern Nigeria, and in general.

Webinar 1: Propcom’s Approach to Climate Smart Agriculture

Registration closed. Click here for recording and slides.

Date: Wednesday, May 26 2021, 11am–Noon WAT

Description:

This webinar will discuss some of Propcom’s climate smart interventions, with important outcomes from the interventions shared, including approach(es) applied, lessons learnt, and their overall contribution to mitigating adverse environmental impacts. 

At the end of the webinar, participants will understand:

  • the role locally adapted seed varieties play in curbing climate variability and building rural farmers’ resilience
  • how compost manure fits into the climate change battle
  • the viability of briquettes’ production centres

Speakers:

  1. Millicent Lafe, Technical Lead, Seeds and Crop Protection Products
  2. Ruskiyat Badmus, Technical Lead, Access to Finance
  3. Omofaye Asala, Technical Lead, Compost and Aggregation and Offtake

Registration closed. Click here for recording and slides.

Webinar 2: Leveraging ICT to Improve Access to Agricultural Extension and Mechanisation Services

Registration closed. Click here for recording and slides.

Date: Thursday, June 10 2021, 11am–Noon WAT

Description:

Applying a mix of methods to reach farmers, especially smallholder farmers, with much needed agronomic information can be instrumental to improving their farming practice, productivity, and curbing or preventing diseases, among others. Through this webinar key lessons and best practices from Propcom’s application of various ICT channels to deliver quality e-extension and agricultural mechanisation services to smallholder farmers in Northern Nigeria. Issues around availability and access to extension information generally, especially for poor farmers, and the impact of COVID will be explored.

By the end of the webinar, participants will learn;

  • how PM leveraged the growing network of phone users in rural community to test models for e-extension;
  • how technology is being used to optimise the agricultural mechanisation services market, enhancing access to and availability of tractors through innovative financing options;
  • Propcom’s approach to building the capacity of radio stations to deliver extension services sustainably; and
  • how extension services extends beyond passing on research information to farmers to brokering relationships and building networks across the value chain

Speakers:

  1. Blessing Allen-Adebayo, Technical Lead, Agricultural Extension
  2. Averti Ayu, Technical Lead, Agricultural Mechanisation

Registration closed. Click here for recording and slides.

Webinar 3: Engaging Policy as a Path to Sustainability

Registration closed. Click here for recording and slides.

Date: Tuesday, June 29 2021, 11am–Noon WAT

Description:

Through this webinar, we will share insights and recommendations for improving sustainability of key markets from our engagement work in policy influencing and advocacy. We will explore key regulatory bottlenecks affecting specific market systems in Nigeria, how PM circumvented these constraints and efforts made to drive regulatory reform. It will focus on PM’s diagnosis of the Tractors, Crop Protection Products (CPP) and Community Animal Health Workers (CAHW) markets, share key information for advocacy and policy intervention, progress so far and opportunities to improve market sustainability going forward.

By the end of the webinar, participants will understand:

  • how Propcom unlocked access to financing for agricultural mechanisation investments and holistic subsector policy development
  • Propcom’s sustainability of the Spray Service Provider’s (SSP) model through integration of model into NESREA’s Extended Producers Programme (EPR)
  • the barrier in veterinary service provision, the role of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHW) in facilitating access to vaccines and related services to farmers, and the impact supervision of CAHWs can have in sustaining the programme.

Speakers:

  1. Averti Ayu, Technical Lead, Agricultural Mechanisation
  2. Millicent Lafe, Technical Lead, Seeds and Crop Protection Products
  3. Gbenga Ariyo, Technical Lead, Animal Health

Registration closed. Click here for recording and slides.

Webinar 4: Rebuilding Fragile Markets with Unconventional Market Systems Development (MSD) Partners

This webinar is hosted in collaboration with the BEAM Exchange.  For more information and to register, click here. 

Registration closed. Click here for recording and slides.

Date: Thursday, July 1 2021, 1pm (WAT)

Description:

This webinar will focus on Propcom’s collaboration with unconventional partners to facilitate recovery of fragile and conflict-affected markets. The webinar will illustrate how Propcom adapted the M4P model of programme implementation to respond to the challenges faced by the conflict in north east Nigeria through two case studies;

  • Propcom’s poultry CBO model and the tools adopted to improve poultry production and marketing 
  • Facilitating access to agricultural inputs and how Propcom leveraged existing networks and bundling of services (last mile delivery of vaccines and warehousing) 

By the end of the webinar, participants will understand:

  • what determines access to markets and how to improve it 
  • how to select unconventional partners, and potential drawbacks
  • how to develop sustainable partnerships 

Speakers:

  1. Salamatu Baba Tunzwang, Technical Lead, Poultry Production and Marketing 
  2. Gbenga Ariyo, Technical Lead, Animal Health

This webinar is hosted in collaboration with the BEAM Exchange.

Registration closed. Click here for recording and slides.

Webinar 5: Financing Agriculture in Rural Markets

Date: Tuesday, October 5 2021, 11am–Noon WAT

Click here to register

Description:

This webinar will discuss strategies PM piloted and/ or adopted to facilitate finance for SMEs and smallholder farmers in Northern Nigeria. It will highlight how other development programmes, I/NGOs, Conditional Cash Transfer schemes, among others can channel their grants more sustainably.

By the end of the webinar, participants will learn:

  • How PM used equity to deepen financial inclusion
  • Innovative ways of deploying project funds/development finance to catalyse commercial financing
  • The role of evidence in influencing the lending policy of financial institutions

Speakers:

  1. Ruskiyat Badmus, Technical Lead, Access to Finance 
  2. Ovo Ugbebor, Deputy Team Lead, Propcom Mai-karfi

Click here to register

We will update this page with information on additional webinars as details are confirmed. Please note that speakers for each webinar may change slightly on the day of the webinars.

All webinars will be recorded and accessible on Propcom’s website.

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WORK WITH US

Thank you for your interest in working with Propcom Mai-karfi. Please click on the vacancy of interest for more details.

Current Opportunities


1. CLOSED. Consulting firm to provide content development services. Deadline: 24 February 2021. See 4 below for Financial (budget) template.

2. Marketing firm to market and create awareness for briquette as a cooking fuel for the Propcom Mai-karfi Briquette intervention. New Deadline: 18 March 2021. See 4 below for Financial (budget) template.

3. CLOSED. Technical Copywriter. Deadline: 26 February 2021. See 4 below for Financial (budget) template.

4. Budget template. Use this template to submit financial proposal for your position of interest.