Solar irrigation in Africa: Ethiopia's lessons on water and finance. 02/10/2026 Font size: 12px15px Solar-powered irrigation is giving farmers a practical way to pump water without buying diesel every growing season. In Ethiopia, projects are already taking shape, from cooperative vegetable farms near Addis Ababa to smallholders in Oromia and Silti. This approach helps farmers weather fuel-price swings, brings irrigation within reach in off-grid areas, and keeps production going even when rainfall is unpredictable. A solar pump does not create water, guarantee higher incomes, or eliminate agricultural emissions. Its long-term worth depends on water management, equipment maintenance, financing, and market access. The technology replaces diesel with sunlight for pumping, but the benefits only materialise when these supporting systems are in place. The Ethiopian experience illustrates both the tangible savings and the unresolved questions. The most concrete evidence comes from Akaki Kality, near Addis Ababa. A 25-member vegetable cooperative irrigating 1.5 hectares used approximately 2,305 litres of diesel per three-month growing cycle, costing about 414,720 Ethiopian birr. With three cycles annually, Farm Africa projects the switch to solar will save around 1.24 million birr (approximately £5,800) in fuel costs alone. This is a project estimate, not an independently verified annual saving, but the baseline diesel consumption is documented. Beyond the pilot, Ethiopia deployed approximately 2,000 solar-powered irrigation systems across Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, Central Ethiopia, and Sidama between 2016 and 2025. These systems helped 3,199 households diversify crops and reduce dependence on erratic rainfall. Complementary IWMI and Farm Africa pilots provided 182 solar pumps serving an estimated 900 people in Oromia and Central Ethiopia. These successes, however, have largely remained localised, and scaling requires addressing systemic barriers. The central environmental concern is over-pumping. Solar energy reduces the cost of pumping but cannot increase the amount of water available in a river or aquifer. Without rules and monitoring, farmers may pump more frequently, expand irrigated land, or grow water-intensive crops. IWMI research warns that while solar irrigation offers clear benefits in energy cost reduction, it must be accompanied by robust groundwater management strategies to avoid accelerating depletion. Evidence from South Asia shows that solar pump adoption has increased irrigation intensity even with buyback schemes designed to address this issue. Sub-Saharan Africa largely lacks formal groundwater regulation, and the region's informal, scattered pumping context requires participatory approaches rather than state-driven enforcement. IWMI and FAO have developed solar suitability maps for Ethiopia and the Sahel that identify areas suitable for solar irrigation while flagging zones to avoid to prevent long-term depletion. These tools specify sustainable water sources and the amount needed to maintain natural ecosystems. The lesson from Pakistan is cautionary: where energy becomes cheap and oversight weak, groundwater tables decline regardless of the technology's intent. A critical constraint is financing. A survey of Ethiopian farmers found that 71% had no access to credit. Formal financial institutions require collateral, while informal cooperatives cannot lend the amounts needed for solar pump purchases. Farmers are also reluctant to use collateral for unfamiliar technologies. The transition from public grants to private finance described in the account could expand access, but only if loans are affordable and suited to farm incomes. Cooperative ownership can spread costs, but shared systems need clear rules for water allocation, pricing, and repairs. Ethiopia exempts solar products from VAT and agricultural machinery from import duties, but implementation has been challenging. The government's restrictive foreign exchange policy makes it difficult for importers to pay for equipment, limiting supply chain reliability. After-sales maintenance and spare parts were not listed as major obstacles in the survey, but this likely reflects low ownership rather than adequate service provision. Without reliable suppliers, spare parts, and trained technicians, installed pumps can become non-functional within years. Strengthening domestic production could ease access to accessories, spare parts, and strategic autonomy during shocks. Ethiopia's national demand is large enough to attract investment, and the country has successfully attracted foreign direct investment in other areas. Local manufacturing would reduce dependence on imports and foreign exchange, while creating jobs in assembly, distribution, and maintenance. Without those linkages, much of the equipment and specialist work will be imported, capturing value abroad. Solar irrigation programmes must be assessed on who receives systems, who obtains training, and who can afford to maintain them. The Ethiopia survey found that lack of access to irrigation machinery was particularly noted in Sidama and Southwest regions. Women-led farms and smaller producers risk being excluded if programmes favour cooperatives with existing capacity. Machinery service provision, renting equipment rather than owning it, could improve access for farmers who cannot afford individual systems, while also creating rural employment in operation and maintenance. Ethiopia's solar irrigation projects show how renewable energy can address a practical farming constraint: the cost and unreliability of powering pumps. Cooperatives can spread capital costs, and solar power can reduce dependence on diesel. But the lasting value depends on disciplined water use, transparent financing, maintenance services, and market access. Without these conditions, solar pumps risk shifting costs from fuel to debt and shifting pressure from energy supply to water resources. The measure of success is not units installed, but systems still operational after three, five, and ten years, and farms that remain productive without depleting the water they depend on.

IWMI and ICAR sign four-year work plan to scale climate solutions for Indian agriculture. The renewed plan sets out five areas of joint work, from AI-driven drought advisories to solar irrigation and One Health initiatives. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have signed a new Work Plan for 2026-2030. It commits both institutions to joint research on some of India's most pressing water and agriculture challenges. The plan was signed on September 24 in New Delhi, India, by Mark Smith, director general, IWMI and Mangi Lal Jat, secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and director general, ICAR. Scientists from ICAR, the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (Ministry of Jal Shakti) and IWMI partnered in this work, which will run until March 31,2030. This renewed work plan is a continuation of the Memorandum of Agreement the two institutions signed in 1996. "To ICAR, thank you for more than 30 years of continuity in partnership," said Mark Smith. "This new work plan is about combining forces. Together we can do more, deliver more and have more impact on water resources management, agricultural water, climate adaptation, irrigation efficiency, solar irrigation and social inclusion. That is the ethos at the heart of our collaboration." Building on proven results. The new plan builds on a 2022-26 collaboration that produced tools and research aligning national priorities. The India Drought Management System (IndiaDMS), developed with ICAR- Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, was launched in 2025. It is complemented by SukhaRakshak AI, India's first AI-powered drought advisory system, which serves more than 700 districts in 22 languages. The ICAR-IWMI Solar Pump Sizing Tool was officially adopted under India's national solar power for agriculture scheme, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) and later adapted by the Government of Nepal. The Water Productivity Atlas for India is now hosted on the Ministry of Jal Shakti's India-Water Resource Information Systems platform. "Thirty years of partnership is very important, and together we have done good work. But as everything evolves, we also need to evolve," said Mangi Lal Jat, stressing the need for the partnership to evolve. "Rather than doing smaller pieces here and there, we should take up bigger challenges, bringing together our complementary expertise and skills. When our work is aligned with the national system and with India's priorities for Viksit Bharat 2047, we can go much further and achieve a larger impact." To maximize impact under the ICAR-IWMI Collaborative Work Plan, the partnership will pursue five cross-cutting flagship initiatives that integrate research, innovation, policy support, and field validation across multiple Areas of Collaboration. These flagship initiatives are: * Plot-to-basin hydrology, groundwater, water accounting and water productivity initiatives. This includes hydrological assessment, springs rejuvenation, water accounting, water budgeting, water productivity assessment, and basin-scale decision-support systems. * A water risk and resilience platform. This integrates climate information services, drought and flood risk assessment, early warning systems, agricultural insurance, and decision-support tools. * Modernization of irrigation initiatives, which includes piped water delivery systems, solar irrigation, pressurized irrigation, command area modernization, and digital technologies for efficient irrigation and water management. * A wastewater reuse and circular water economy initiative, that will focus on wastewater assessment, antimicrobial resistance studies, safe reuse of water in agriculture and aquaculture, resource recovery, water quality management, and circular approaches to water management. * Water governance, policy and institutional innovation initiatives. These will include groundwater governance, participatory water planning and budgeting, institutional strengthening, water-user associations, equitable water allocation, policy analysis, regulatory frameworks, intersectoral coordination, and mechanisms for scaling and sustaining water-management innovations. Both institutions emphasized that the plan's value lies in alignment. IWMI's work will be embedded within India's National Agricultural Research System, with pooled expertise to avoid duplication and results that feed directly into national programmes. Through ICAR's and IWMI's wider networks, including CGIAR, the knowledge generated in India will also be shared across South Asia and the Global South.

A water solution designed with Viet Nam's coffee farmers in mind. In the Central Highlands, IWMI is scaling managed aquifer recharge to improve groundwater security with a focus on women and marginalized farmers. For water-intensive coffee, climate change is raising the stakes. Viet Nam is the world's second-largest coffee exporter, with its Central Highlands smallholder farmers supplying the bulk of global robusta coffee to markets in Europe, the United States and Japan. This agriculturally rich region, home to around six million people across five provinces, produces 90% of Viet Nam's coffee, contributes nearly 18% of the global coffee market and generates $3 billion in export earnings annually. The sector supports the livelihoods of more than 1.4 million people, 44% of whom are women. However, coffee is a water-intensive crop, and intensifying drought and erratic rainfall are undermining the region's water security. In the absence of reliable surface water, farmers increasingly rely on groundwater for irrigation, drilling deeper wells as shallow aquifers become depleted. Groundwater extraction in the Central Highlands comes at a high cost. Researchers from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) found that ethnic minority households and women farmers are disproportionately affected by this challenge. These groups often cultivate smaller, more marginal plots and have less capital to invest in deeper wells, thereby facing greater exposure to water shortages. For women, the impacts of water insecurity extend far beyond the farm. Women reported that domestic wells deplete sooner each dry season, forcing them to spend more time and effort collecting water for their families, often relying on a single well shared by multiple households. As a result, water insecurity not only threatens their crops but also increases women's unpaid labor, reducing the time available for farming, income-generating activities and other productive work. Turning gender insights into technical innovation. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is an innovative, nature-based solution to depleted water resources. It involves capturing runoff from rooftops and fields and directing it into existing wells, replenishing shallow aquifers that can then be drawn upon during the dry season. It is low on cost and affordable to male and female farmers alike. MAR's effectiveness was demonstrated though a pilot study led by IWMI in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam, partnered with the Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI) and Dong A University (UDA). Building on this initial success, IWMI, WASI and UDA are now co-designing and implementing 16 new MAR interventions with farmers. To address the disproportionate burden of labor placed on women to secure water for household use, the project's design includes recharge systems for domestic as well as agricultural wells. To make MAR accessible to socioeconomically disadvantaged households, IWMI and partners are also exploring flexible financing options that go beyond upfront cash payments. Building on existing community practices of sharing wells between neighbors, researchers hope to integrate communal recharge infrastructure. Training has also moved closer to communities through village-based, participatory approaches, increasing women's participation. "My family farms 2.7 hectares of coffee intercropped with 100 durian trees, relying on a pond and a well. Almost every year from February to March, we face water shortages. Waiting for water delays irrigation and cuts into our yield, and at home, we often have to ask neighbors for help," says H Men Ksor, an Ede farmer from Mui Village, Krông Búk commune, explaining why she decided to co-design MAR interventions with IWMI. Looking ahead, IWMI will explore linking MAR adoption to sustainable coffee certification schemes to ensure better earnings for farmers, while leveraging public-private partnerships to co-finance the project expansion. This approach aims to establish MAR as a scalable, nature-based and low-cost solution for resilient coffee production in Viet Nam and beyond. Paul Pavelic is a senior researcher on hydrogeology at IWMI. Chau Thi Minh Long is a researcher at the EaKmat Coffee Research and Technology Transfer Centre, WASI, Viet Nam.Tran Ngoc Thanh is a researcher at the Tay Nguyen Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development, UDA. Editor's note: This blog is based on emerging results of the ongoing Global EbA Fund project implemented by IWMI.