CLIMATE SMART IRRIGATION TECHNOLOGIES

Keeping in view the enormous potential for developing Irrigation technologies, this concept note propagates an idea of introducing a focused “Climate Smart Irrigation Project” as a test pilot in Burkina Faso with a CSA Irrigation Technology Demonstration Centre at the country’s capital (Ouagadougou) and 3 test pilot zones in three agro-climatic zones of it.
Project Goals
-Increase small & marginalized farmers’ capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change by using Climate Smart Irrigation technologies
-Encourage and promote frugal innovations in small farming & cropping systems especially concerning irrigation
-Facilitate to contribute to sustainable development and the reduction of poverty for the local community.
-Build partnerships between private and public organizations in furthering both the Goals of Country Government (NAPA) & the best practices achieved in CSA technologies so far
-Leverage additional financing for climate action for replication of the CSI project in neighboring West African countries.

As a landlocked country in sub-Saharan Africa, Burkina Faso is extremely susceptible to droughts. Its agriculture sector is dominated by small-scale farms producing mostly millet, sorghum, and maize. Overpopulation, overgrazing, and desertification have all led to soil and environmental degradation. Mainly rain-fed agriculture makes agricultural production in Burkina Faso vulnerable to irregularity rainfall in the Sahel region; and this can hamper efforts to increase production to improve food security in the country, not only in the short term but also in the long-term - By 2050, the population in Burkina Faso is expected to reach 47 million people and the demand for food in the major crop categories will triple or even increase fivefold, for some products. The development of irrigated agriculture can help overcome this barrier and can contribute to an increase in national food security in the future.

Irrigation is a particularly robust Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) technology in the semi-arid and arid areas of SSA and is often essential to the deployment of any other CSA technology. While the potential for irrigation can be enormous, farms equipped with irrigation hardly exceed 5% of total agricultural area1. Developments in improving water availability on farmlands are seen in the investments in drip irrigation facilities as a climate-smart option in West Africa esp. for the production of high value vegetables.
Photovoltaic Solar powered drip irrigation facilities are in particular being promoted in the Sudano-Sahel zones of West Africa due to their cost-effectiveness and significant correlation to increase household income and nutritional intake in the region. Evidence from the literature shows farmlands equipped with drip irrigation could record up to 100% increase in yields relative to control fields3. In addition, significant savings in water use, up to about 80% could be realized compared with conventional irrigation practices.

The beneficiaries of this project are people living in rural areas below the poverty line, that is to say with a very limited or nonexistent monthly income for the majority of households.
This project for its first phase will concern 50 families.

With climate change already compounding the socio-economic and biophysical constraints to Development in Burkina Faso, the adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is one mainstream opportunity for improving food and livelihood security in the region. As an innovative approach, CSA may effectively achieve the development goals of vulnerable populations highly dependent on agriculture although this will depend on effective management of the synergies and trade-offs between the mitigation, adaptation and productivity goals of CSA.

SOS Energie Burkina promotes a technology that eliminates the use of complex transmitters, considerably reducing the number of parts for a drip irrigation system and reducing costs to 1/4 of typical commercial systems. Reducing complexity also improves reliability and ease of maintenance. In this system, water is routed through precisely punched holes in inexpensive plastic tubes. This means that the installation only requires a farmer to unroll the tube and connect it to a central pipe supplied by a raised water container. The simplest, most affordable, and most ready-to-use drip irrigation system in the field. This provides farmers, even the poorest, with a cost-effective way to increase the efficiency of their water use and to produce more crops to feed and market their families.

Small-scale irrigation is essential for ensuring local food security and adapting farming systems to the growing consequences of climate change. A-Direct contributions:
 1 °) irrigate regardless of time and space with your mobile phone;
  2 °) optimize working time;
 3 °) release the operator in order to engage in other activities in the agricultural value chain (search for inputs, marketing ...);
 4 °) increase the irrigable area and increase production;
   5 °) transform the telephone into an agricultural production tool;
 6 °) efficiently manage natural resources, especially water.
B- Indirect contributions:
7 °) have real-time climate data for an area;
 8 °) increase in the penetration rate of telephony in rural areas;
9 °) creation of traffic among operators;
10 ° reduction of greenhouse gases and adaptation to climate change;
11 ° preservation of human health;
12 °) achievement of Objective N ° 1 of the Millennium for Development (MDG1) which is to reduce extreme poverty and hunger which must necessarily go through the good management of water therefore irrigation.

Following key benefits are envisaged by CSI project:
•    Enormous saving of precious run-off (at least 20 mn. litres) by wider adoption of climate resilience technologies at least by 8000 Farmer Households (direct/indirect)
•    Coverage of an additional 1200+ hectares under irrigation (mainly thru CSI tech.)
•    At least 10 new climate smart techniques will be tested which may spring up new green business ideas and facilitate to generate 200 new jobs will be created as a multiplier if 10 with each new CSI tech
•    At least 40-50% income enhancement for over 5000 farmer households enabled to do second and/or third crop with conserved water; drastic reduction of vulnerability
•    More than 70% income enhancement for farmers shifting to water intensive crops with availability of water in off-season due to sub-surface innovative irrigation tech.
•    Significant offtake and acceptance of Climate Smart technologies (with sales of more than 15000 USD) among small farmholders through all round visibility
•    At least 65% productivity enhancement with the use of climate smart irrigation
•    Greater gender inclusion by ensuring water rights for women and lessening their burden of water arrangements for farm/family
•    Public-Private-Community partnerships to emerge in key developmental efforts leading to effective climate change adaptation & mitigation measures
•    Significant reduction in out-migration of farmers to look for water sources and would try to achieve to stop 500 farmer households to migrate.

Currently our solution benefits 150 women members of a women's group. By two the project will reach 650 people. In this, around 5000 people will benefit from our solution in Burkina Faso.

Our objectives between 2 and 5 years:
1-Huge saving of precious runoff (at least 20 million liters) thanks to a
wider adoption of climate change resilience technologies by at least
8000 farming households (direct / indirect).
2-Increase of at least 40 to 50% of the income of more than 5000 farming households, which allowed them to make a second and / or a third harvest with water
preserved; drastic reduction in vulnerability
3-Greater integration of women and men by guaranteeing the right of women to water and reducing the burden they have for water management on farms
agricultural / family

The problems:
1-Financial: the project requires significant funding, which is, for the moment, pending.
2-Socio cultural: We do not know to what extent change and innovation will be accepted by the population.
3-Security of premises, property, people in the company
4-Commercial: the success of the project depends on the support of the beneficiary population
5-Local political risk: the political risk between local groups can have negative consequences on our activity.

The solutions:
1-Financial: However, if the subsidies received are not substantial enough, the activity can however be launched, but on a smaller scale
2-Socio-cultural: Through awareness campaigns, the company is counting on a change in progressive mentalities. The results of our survey point in this direction.
3-Security of premises, property, people in the company: a security guard will be hired to ensure the security of the production sites and equipment.
4-Commercial: A vast promotional campaign will be organized for this purpose.
5-Local political risk: We have included local groups in the project designed to reduce this risk.

Our organization is part of the ICAF Francophone Africa Climate Initiatives network. This organization is established in most of the French-speaking countries of Africa and aims to promote SUS-SUD cooperation among others.

Our organization has five (5) employees and ten contract workers.

The project is led by Mr. Vincent Nikiéma. He is a solar energy technician by training, he has been president of the SOS Energie Burkina association since its creation in 2008. He is particularly specialized in issues related to solar electrification in rural areas. He is Country Correspondent for ICAF Francophone Africa Climate Initiatives. He will be surrounded by an experienced team with real development experience. It is an experienced team that will occupy key positions, with real experience in development. As such, we would like to recall that SOS Energie won the 2010 SEED (Business Support for the Environment and Sustainable Development) award for the pilot project, highlighting the hopes placed in this project.

Project Partners:  

1-Farmers Action Association for Integration and Development (APID-Burkina) 2-Youth Solidarity Association for Development (AJSD-Nong Taaba)  

3-The Town Hall of Koubri Rural Municipality

4-The group of market gardeners of Koubri

5-The Ministry of Agriculture and Hydrolic Resources of Burkina Faso