Farm irrigation in Rwanda is often powered by expensive diesel water pumps, and this solution leads to a really low water efficiency. This is because the water cannot be accurately targeted, and lots of water is lost to evaporation. This is why the ARC Power Research and Development team are developing and deploying a gravity driven drip feed irrigation system.
When the sun is up during the day, solar power is used to pump water up a hill into storage tanks. This water can then be used for irrigation, using only gravity to power it. Drip irrigation allows more direct water feed to plant roots, reducing the amount of water waste. This also cuts out the need for expensive diesel generators.
Pauline Cyiza from the research and design team has been out talking to customers about this solution ahead of this month’s launch of ARC’s gravity irrigation prototype, to be installed on the farm in the attached photos, to drum up interest for future installations.
