Problem:

Kenya has 5.4 million hectares of arable land, but only 17% of this land is suitable for rainfed agriculture; leaving the remainder in need of irrigation and pumping technology. Petrol, electric, and manual treadle pumps are presently available in the market, but the effectiveness of these technologies is constrained by high input costs and labor inefficiencies.                 

Solution:

RainMaker2 is an affordable, practical and smart solar-powered irrigation solution.

Goals and Objectives:

With just the power of the sun, smallholder farmers can increase their agricultural productivity and incomes, while mitigating the effects of climate change.

Implementation:

The solution is developed by the SunCulture, aspired to tackle the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform the world with the RainMaker2. The revolutionary ClimateSmart™ technology enables this by using Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies to analyze data from a variety of sensors and give farmers simple and accurate advice via SMS on how they can improve their practices without aggravating the environment, through excessive water usage, for example. The RainMaker2 with ClimateSmart™ meets and exceeds the SDG of availability and sustainable management of water for all. It analyses the weather and soil on the IoT platform to give guidance on how much to irrigate and monitor pump power consumption to see if the farmer could benefit from more efficient methods (e.g., drip irrigation), thus reducing the impact agriculture has on the earth’s freshwater resources while simultaneously improving yields for the farmer through precision agriculture. SunCulture’s RainMaker2 with ClimateSmart™ has the potential to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support development and ensure food security in a changing climate.

Achievements

:  The solar powered irrigation system allows to achieve higher yields at lower costs, can lift up to 3,000 liters per hour, optimize performance in any weather condition, send SMS alerts for weather-based irrigation timing and dry run protection, and even power lights, radio, phone charger and many other 12V and 24V appliances.