“Collectiveness is key to this project. Nobody can do it alone. The need and the market are here, and both are growing rapidly due to climate change. We see a huge market potential among small Ugandan coffee farmers.Quality solar-powered irrigation improves harvests and extends growing seasons.”

Ronald Schuurhuizen

Partnerships Development Manager at Grundfos, Grundfos

The project Enhancing Irrigation to Improve Climate Adaptation and Sustain Smallholder Production Systems in Uganda helps small Ugandan farmers to find the proper irrigation solutions, ensuring improvements for their farms.

“The solutions exist, but I’d be lying if I said it was easy for farmers in Uganda to buy them. That’s why I’m happy to collaborate with great partners to guide Ugandan farmers invest in high-quality, long-lasting irrigation systems. We are committed to empowering smallholder farmers across Uganda with technologies that promote sustainability, food security, and economic growth,” says Ronald Schuurhuizen, Partnerships Development Manager at Grundfos and leader of the DGBP project.

The project has been running effectively for about a year, and the first three irrigation demonstration units have just been installed—or are in the process of being installed—in Uganda.

Seeing Is Believing
“For farmers to be motivated to invest in this technology, they need to see it working with their own eyes. While we know these systems work—we’ve implemented them all over the planet. But the farmers need to experience it firsthand. They operate as private entities and must make business decisions about their investments. Even though we strongly encourage farmers to invest collectively as groups, this has not yet succeeded,” continues Schuurhuizen.

It’s still too early to assess the success of the demonstration projects. This isn’t the irrigation season, so months will pass before the projects demonstrate their value through improved harvests. Fortunately, the project has several years ahead.

Danish Ambassador Attends Demonstration in Buganda Kingdom
One of the demonstration units is located in the Buganda Kingdom, a central part of Uganda. To initiate this partnership, one of the project partners, Akvo, collaborated with the Buganda Kingdom’s Strategic Planning Unit to propose installing a demo irrigation system.

The installation was supervised, and the commissioning was attended by Signe Winding Albjerg, the Danish Ambassador to Uganda, whose involvement highlighted the global importance of sustainable agricultural solutions. All photos on these pages are from this event.

“Even the demonstration projects are paid for,” Schuurhuizen emphasizes. “They are sold at regular prices with delayed payment arrangements. This is not a relief project but a business initiative.”

Value-Driven but Commercially Minded
The cost of solar-powered irrigation systems starts at $5,000 and can increase significantly, depending on the farm’s size and conditions. Only about 5% of the cost is for the pump; the rest covers counselling, digging wells, installing storage tanks, tubing, filters, and solar panels.

So, why does a global company like Grundfos engage in and lead this project?

“Grundfos is a foundation-run company guided by our founder’s values. We aim to do more than just generate profit. While our pumps aren’t the primary driver of impact, our commitment to sustainability is real. In 2023, we provided basic water access to 2 million people through NGO partnerships and 5 million through standard operations,” explains Schuurhuizen.

“The need for irrigation in this region is only going to increase. But also, it’s not bad that as we establish a presence in Uganda’s irrigation sector. We may gain a reputation and open doors to the country’s broader water sector. If that happens, the project will have truly succeeded.”

Project Partners

Technology in Brief

Grundfos Solar-Powered Pump System
Tailored for drip irrigation to support small-scale coffee production in Uganda.

Components

  • Grundfos SQF 3A-18 pump, paired with an IO50 controller and surge protector
  • 25-meter shallow well
  • 10,000L storage tank
  • Blank tubing and emitters
  • 1.25-inch disc filter

Price
From $5,000 to $25,000, depending on farm size, specifications, and geology. While the pump itself accounts for only 5% of the cost, the rest includes expert consultation, well digging, storage tanks, tubing, filters, and solar panels. Proper customization is critical to ensuring the system functions effectively for years. 

 

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Introducing our project ‘Enhancing irrigation to improve climate adaptation and sustain smallholder production systems in Uganda.’

The project adopts a value chain approach encompassing capacity building, technology, finance, and access to markets to create an inclusive supply and demand ecosystem that will increase the adoption of quality irrigation technologies to increase climate adaptation and resilient food systems while contributing to private sector business growth for irrigation technologies and associated services. The business case revolves around the embeddedness of solar-driven irrigation solutions within a value chain to promote the uptake. The project goal will be achieved by three interrelated specific objectives, namely;

  1. Increasing smallholder capacity in climate adaptation practices in food production and marketing systems.
  2. Develop a private sector driven smallholder irrigation technology supply chain to foster inclusive economic growth.
  3. Facilitating access to finance for investment in irrigation technology.

Background: Challenges of climate change in rain-fed agriculture

Smallholder farming is the predominant economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa involving approximately 33 million farmers. In Uganda, agriculture accounts for 70% of employment, mostly in smallholder farming which occupies half of all land area, provides half of all exports, and contributes 25% of the national GDP.

Due to overdependence on rain-fed agriculture smallholder food production systems are experiencing increased vulnerability from the effects of climate change manifesting mostly in erratic rains and frequent droughts especially in the Northern and Eastern regions. Currently, only 1.3% of total cultivated land in Uganda is irrigated over a potential of 1.1 million hectares.

Therefore the project will facilitate farmers to acquire adequate knowledge of climate change adaptation options including options for irrigated agriculture as well as access to finance and markets for their irrigated produce, thereby increasing demand and investment in irrigation solutions and by so doing increase resilience to climate change leading to increased productivity, increased incomes and improved livelihoods and a more inclusive and sustainable economic growth.