AGROSOLAR

The main goal of the project is to increase the resilience of farming communities to climate change by accelerating commercial sales of solar water pumps for irrigation, to increase the productivity of high-value horticulture

Long Description

Globally, there are more than 800 million smallholder farmers, many of whom manually lift and haul over four tons of water daily to irrigate their farmland. The majority of Nepalese farmers are dependent on monsoon rains. For Nepal, irrigation has always been a challenge with roughly 300,000 ha of land lying fallow, farmers using land for only one crop cycle, and only 1.4 million ha out of 3 million being irrigated. Increasing productivity in the agriculture sector is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to fight poverty and stimulate socio-economic development. In fact, for every 10% increase in farm yield, there has been an estimated 7% reduction in poverty in Africa and more than 5% in Asia (UNEP, 2012). Nepali farmers can drastically decrease their labor and expand their irrigable area by employing motorized pumps. Solar energy is the most abundant source of energy in the world. It is not only an answer to today’s energy crisis but the best technology to adapt to climate change. A solar-powered irrigation system can be a suitable alternative for farmers in the present state of the energy crisis and climate change in Nepal.

We have developed a sustainable mechanism to facilitate the introduction and use of solar-powered pumping solutions. By removing the barriers that currently inhibit the adoption of these solutions (traditional grid electricity is prohibitively expensive to install in farms), the project will allow communities to enjoy a reliable, cost-effective and sustainable source of energy via our low-cost, rent-to-own business model.