M a r k e t N e w s
SunCulture Launches Solar-Powered Water Pump In Kenya
Posted on : Wednesday, 1st November 2017
SunCulture the company from Africa, launched a solar-powered water pump in Kenya designed to offer smallholder farmers low cost solution to unreliable rainfall and lack of access to grid electricity.
SunCulture said the RainMaker, a new internet-connected solar water pump system, targets mass market of underserved smallholder farmers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Samir Ibrahim the firm’s CEO said most small holder farmers in Africa were only one bad harvesting season away from financial ruin.
“Solar-powered irrigation offers farmers an affordable alternative to the cost of diesel and electric irrigation technology, enabling them to reduce energy costs and increase agricultural output,” Ibrahim said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
RainMaker added up to 7,000 liters of water per day can be lifted up by its high-efficiency positive displacement pump from wells up to 100 meters deep, offering substantial value compared to higher priced systems that can lift water only 10 meters.
Using energy from the portable 120-watt solar panel and battery bank, enough water is pumped to irrigate a one-acre farm and support livestock and household water needs like cooking, drinking, and cleaning.
RainMaker is available in Kenya for 480 U.S. dollars including solar pump, controller, battery bank, portable solar panel and sprinkler.
According to the firm, four out of five African families depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but just four percent use irrigation with the rest relying on increasingly unreliable rainfall.
Switching to irrigated agriculture increases yields by 90 percent when compared to nearby rain-fed farms, as World Economic Forum, 2015 indicated.
RainMaker is both low-maintenance and highly efficient, providing farmers with high value fruits and vegetables while dramatically boosting profitability.
SunCulture’s cutting-edge Climate Smart pump controller automatically optimizes pump performance and battery charging based on cloud cover - extending pumping by up to 6 hours on cloudy days.
The controller includes long range, low power LoRa connectivity compatible with wireless soil and weather sensors that enable farmers to irrigate automatically based on soil moisture and climate conditions.
Source : Business News Africa
