06/01/10

Solar-powered irrigation a shining success in Benin

A similar pump in Mali draws water into a storage tower Copyright: Flickr/Dravir.B

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Solar-powered irrigation a shining success in Benin</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><span>Solar-powered irrigation systems can boost food and income levels in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, researchers have found.</span></p>
<p><span>Irrigation is known to reduce poverty in Asia, they wrote in <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences </em>this week (5 January), but the success of the technique is not well-documented in Sub-Saharan Africa.</span></p>
<p><span>The team, from Stanford University, United States, installed and analysed solar-powered drip irrigation systems — which use photovoltaic pumps to deliver groundwater to the surface — in arid Benin, where most farmers rely on a  3–6 month rainy season and irrigate by hand. </span></p>
<p><span>The researchers installed the solar pumps in two villages. Compared with villages using hand irrigation, the pumps led to more vegetables being produced and farmers earning more money.</span></p>
<p><span>Vegetable intake increased by 500–750 grams per person per day — equivalent to 3–5 servings of vegetables — during the rainy season in villages with solar systems, and people in control villages ate 150 grams more, suggesting that extra vegetables grown in the two villages were being sold in local markets.</span></p>
<p><span>"This study thus indicates that solar-powered drip irrigation can provide substantial economic, nutritional and environmental benefits," wrote the authors. </span></p>
<p><span><span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100104151923.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full article in <em>Science Daily</em></a></span></span></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/solar-powered-irrigation-a-shining-success-in-benin/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/solar-powered-irrigation-a-shining-success-in-benin/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Solar-powered irrigation systems can boost food and income levels in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, researchers have found.

Irrigation is known to reduce poverty in Asia, they wrote in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week (5 January), but the success of the technique is not well-documented in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The team, from Stanford University, United States, installed and analysed solar-powered drip irrigation systems — which use photovoltaic pumps to deliver groundwater to the surface — in arid Benin, where most farmers rely on a 3–6 month rainy season and irrigate by hand.

The researchers installed the solar pumps in two villages. Compared with villages using hand irrigation, the pumps led to more vegetables being produced and farmers earning more money.

Vegetable intake increased by 500–750 grams per person per day — equivalent to 3–5 servings of vegetables — during the rainy season in villages with solar systems, and people in control villages ate 150 grams more, suggesting that extra vegetables grown in the two villages were being sold in local markets.

"This study thus indicates that solar-powered drip irrigation can provide substantial economic, nutritional and environmental benefits," wrote the authors.

Link to full article in Science Daily