The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has demonstrated its solar irrigation pump system to farmers in Kano State as part of efforts to encourage the adoption of solar-powered irrigation for dry-season agriculture.

The demonstrations were held on large-scale rice farms in Zakirai village, Gabawasa Local Government Area, and Kwarin Kaba, Kumbotso Local Government Area. The initiative is aimed at helping smallholder farmers lower production expenses, improve productivity and raise their incomes.

NASENI conducted the programme in partnership with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), CGIAR, the Kano State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kano State Agricultural Development Authority (KNARDA) and farmer cooperative societies.

The programme is focused on challenges affecting the profitability of small-scale agricultural businesses, particularly increasing fuel costs and heavy reliance on rainfall for production.

Leading the farm demonstrations, NASENI’s Director, Technical Services, Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Ajani, said Nigeria has an estimated 84 million hectares of arable land, although agricultural production is still largely rain-fed, with only a small proportion benefiting from functional irrigation.

According to Ajani, climate variability and increasing fuel costs have put considerable pressure on the profitability of dry-season farming in Northern Nigeria, especially among producers of rice, wheat and high-value vegetables.

He explained that the two-day Demand-Supply Linkage Workshop and Field Demonstrations for Solar-Based Irrigation Systems (SBIS) was organised to connect farmers with suitable irrigation technologies as well as potential sources of financing.

The workshop brought together farmer clusters, solar equipment suppliers, financial institutions and agricultural extension agents. The objective was to promote investment in solar irrigation while helping move research findings into practical agricultural adoption.

For smallholder farmers and agricultural MSMEs, greater use of solar-powered irrigation could reduce their exposure to changing fossil-fuel prices and provide more control over production cycles.

The Managing Director of KNARDA, Dr. Farouk Ahmad Kurawa, commended NASENI for giving farmers an opportunity to observe certified solar irrigation technologies in actual operation.

Kurawa also said the demonstrations gave equipment suppliers an opportunity to present their products directly to farmers, noting that farmers are willing to embrace new innovations.

Despite the interest, the high initial cost of solar irrigation equipment remains a significant obstacle for many smallholder farmers.

Team Lead, IWMI, Dr. Adebayo Oke, said baseline studies and Discrete Choice Experiments conducted by CGIAR in Kano, Kaduna and Kebbi indicated that farmers have considerable interest in solar-based irrigation, but the initial capital requirement remains prohibitive for individual smallholders.

The programme consequently involved financial institutions, including the Bank of Agriculture, Jaiz Bank and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), to explore ways of addressing the financing gap.

The institutions are expected to consider harvest-synchronised credit facilities and Islamic finance products that could improve farmers’ access to solar irrigation equipment.

Oke said the partnership with NASENI is intended to create a sustainable market linkage connecting smallholder farmer cooperatives, solar irrigation equipment suppliers and financial institutions.

Such connections could help agricultural MSMEs tackle one of the key obstacles to adopting productivity-enhancing technologies: access to affordable capital.

Mr. Zubairu Mohammed Inuwa, a farmer from Kwarin Kaba, Kumbotso LGA, whose farmland hosted one of the demonstrations, welcomed the technology. He said it could facilitate all-season farming, improve crop yields, reduce post-harvest losses and increase farmers’ income.

Women and youth farming groups, rice and vegetable farmer associations, cooperative societies and local farming clusters also took part in the programme and expressed support for the economic opportunities associated with solar-based irrigation systems.

Improved access to irrigation could enable agricultural MSMEs to expand production, supply markets outside the traditional rainy season and develop more predictable revenue streams.

However, wider adoption will require more than technology demonstrations. Financing arrangements will also need to enable smallholder farmers and agricultural businesses to obtain the equipment without being burdened by unsustainable upfront costs.

The NASENI initiative therefore underscores the importance of combining technology, financing and market linkages in efforts to improve the resilience and competitiveness of Nigeria’s agricultural MSMEs.

Source: msmeafricaonline