Farming in Malawi is challenging. Over 80% of the population has its own farm and depends on it for its food and income. The rainy season is most important as farmers grow their staple food: maize. Farming during the dry season is only a possibility for those whose land is situated along a river, lake or irrigation canal. Most farmers, however, do not practice dry season irrigation due to the high financial risks involved in pumping when using diesel or solar pumps (risk of losing pre-investment in case of harvest failure).
EASI-WATER, EASI-PAY: Enabling Malawian smallholder farmers to approach farming commercially
aQysta BV
Malawi, Blantyre, Zombas, Thyolo districts
The proposed project will enable 250 smallholder farmers to practice irrigated agriculture during the dry season (cash crop cultivation) and rainy season (supplemental irrigation of staple crops) by means of this innovative irrigation technology. The Barsha Pump is a hydro-powered water pump (generating a pressure equal to 100 W or 72kWh per month) that lifts water from rivers or canals by only using the energy present in the water flow. The Barsha Pump has the capacity to pump water up to 40 meters high, or up to 2 km inland, and distributes the water over farmers' land through drip irrigation.
The Barsha Pump addresses the financial constraints of farmers as the equipment is leased through Pay-As-You-Harvest or Pay-As-You-Use while the pump does not incur any operational and maintenance costs. In addition, farmers that make use of the Pay-As-You-Go schemes are provided a guaranteed off-take of their produce and receive free advice about optimal pump use and crop management.
Expected outputs:
- 50 Barsha pumps and 50 irrigation kits installed
- Installed renewable capacity of 3.600 kWh per month, based on an installed renewable energy capacity of 6 kW that can be used 24/7
- Each Barsha pump prevents the emission of 0.8 t CO2/year
- Up to 150% farmer income
- Creation of 15 jobs
Status December 2021:
- Site feasibility and promotional activities conducted
- 50 pumps already installed and operational
- 255 farmers trained on Barsha pump operation, entrepreneurship and market development
- Development of the farmer incubator model with 46 farmers under training
- Execution rate: 100%*
Disclaimer: The implementation rate is calculated based on the specific objectives activities for each project. Most of those objectives are set from the acquisition and implementation phase of the energy systems.
