Barsha Pump with farm incubator program

Over 80% of the Malawi population has their own farm and depend on it as main source of food and income. Reliable irrigation increases production and income with 2-5 times compared to rainfed farming and creates resilience to extreme weather caused by climate change. However, most farmers don’t practice dry season irrigation due to high financial risks of pumping water. For those farmers aQysta has developed the Barsha Pump, a sustainable waterpump using the energy from a flowing water source, resulting in zero operating costs. Furthermore, with aQysta Malawi’s Farm Incubator Program, farmers can pay for the pumps over time in proportion to their harvest and are trained to build more agricultural knowledge, diversify crops, produce in the dry season and receive market linkage, while using irrigation tools which produce zero carbon. The Barsha Pump and Farm Incubator have global potential for smallholder farmers and would boost their production significantly.

Malawi has an estimated population of close to 20 Million, with approximately 16 million Malawians pending on their local farming produce to feed their families and generate income. Due the fast growing population * and an estimated population of close to 25 Milion in 2030**, the local food chain in Malawi is under serious pressure. Over 80% of the population is food and income depended of its own farm. However, farming in Malawi is challenging, . The rainy season is most important as farmers then grow their staple food: maize. Farming during the dry season is only a possibility for those who own a water pump and whose land is situated next to a water source. Most farmers, do not practice dry season irrigation due the high financial risks involved in pumping when using diesel pumps. Electric pumping is also hardly an option, as electricity access or rural household is as low as 2 percent. Renewable energy technologies in Malawi are only purchasable with upfront payment and with traditional financing mechanisms with high default rates, leading to inaccessibility to credit and very high interest rates for small holder farmers.

*(+500,000 each year, the last 5 years - www.data. worldbank.org/country/malawi?view=chart)

**https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/malawi-population/

aQysta’s Barsha Pump is a renewable energy irrigation pump, developed specifically to suit smallholders’ conditions in remote areas. It operates with zero operating costs as it is propelled only by the energy present in flowing water or solar radiation. Furthermore, it requires minimal and very easy maintenance as it builds its pressure without a moving part. Access to reliable irrigation boosts smallholder’s productivity and can increase income by 2-5 times, compared to rain-fed agriculture. However, in the Malawian context, smallholder farmers cannot afford renewable energy technologies with upfront payment and traditional financing mechanisms. As a solution, aQysta Malawi is developing the innovative two-step farm incubator model. First, farmers following a 3 years program for commercial farming on an incubator farm or their own farm, managed by aQysta, against a basic salary. Second, after training, the farmers receive an ‘accreditation’ certificate, making them eligible for aQysta’s EASI-pay (Enabling Access to Sustainable Irrigation) financing scheme, which allows farmers to pay for renewable energy technology investments over time and in proportion to their harvest. With this, farmers can spin out their own commercial farm and generate income from harvest sales. Training includes crop management, irrigation techniques, pest control and market linkage.

The end beneficiaries of the project are Malawi based smallholder farmers located in the remote and rural areas without or with very limited access to energy. Our focus is to assist the typically marginal farmers (direct beneficiaries) who are seeking to make the transition from subsistence to commercial farmers but a lack of irrigation and other agricultural inputs hinders their agricultural production. Among this group, the project will target primarily those farmers that are located within 2KM of a river or stream.

aQysta Malawi has developed the Farm Incubator plan, which provides 3 years of training for participating farmers and access to water through the innovative Barsha pump, enabling local farmers to harvest a second and third season each year! The farmers pay for the technology by harvest, during the training period matching their wallet and cash flow. During this training farmers will gain experience in crop diversity, pest control, innovative farming tools and market linkage.

To keep operations manageable aQysta Malawi focusses on the Southern part of Malawi with plans of extension to the North next year. Site feasibility studies and GIS mapping have showed over 400KM rivers and stream with feasible farming land in Southern Malawi.

Through accessibility of new irrigation technology (Barsha pump), training (crop management) and an innovative business model (Farm incubator) local small holder farmers will be able to belong to the select group of successful dry season farmers. Due to training in crop management, diversifying crops, access to innovative tools and market linkage local farmers will be able to increase their profit with 150% without producing any emission (low carbon). aQysta believes that irrigation is the best way to increase production on given agricultural land and to create resilience against extreme weather caused by climate change.

In comparison with fuel pumps, the hydro-powered Barsha Pump has 0% operations costs, as all the pump need is a flowing stream of river. In contrast with similar priced solar pumps, the Barsha Pump can reach up to 20 meter height or 2KM far with an average outflow of 50,000L per day. The Barsha Pump does not require technical experience to operate unlike solar and diesel pumps and is fully compatible with the water rights act signed by the Malawi government in 2018 (no flood irrigation, no dams with fuel pumps to avoid unfair competition). The Barsha Pump produces 0 pollution and has won several prizes for its innovative approach.

 On the business model side; aQysta’s innovative farm incubator is designed to include small holder farmers to be trained in commercial farming, making them eligible for getting credit to own and run their commercial farm and to build a strong and sustainable market connection. The pump and other inputs (drip irrigation kits, water storage) will be paid overtime with a percentage of the revenue earned from the harvest. The business model is catered to local context where small holder farmers cannot afford renewable energy technologies with upfront payment and traditional finance methods are not an option due the very high interest rates.

The aim of aQysta is to train the farmers to self-sustainability and after several years following the incubator program, aQysta will scale down its supervision on particular farmer. The lifespan of the Barsha pump is over 10 years.

Qysta has developed and brought to market a patented hydro-powered irrigation pump

branded as the “Barsha Pump” (‘Barsha’ means rain in Hindi/Nepalese). It is driven solely by the water flow of streams, rivers or canals and pumps part of the water to higher grounds, thus creating access to irrigation without requiring any fuel or electricity. Hydropower is the most cost-efficient power source for pumping and by harnessing it, the Barsha Pump is capable to provide water 24 hours per day, while featuring high efficiencies.

The Barsha Pump can lift water directly from a flowing water source as it is propelled by a waterwheel, which also makes it suitable for use in a wide range of rivers and canals, without the need for infrastructure (dams etc.) - a problem often associated with hydropower. It operates purely mechanically, with a minimum number of moving parts and without transmission, as it creates pressure only through the interaction of water and air columns, based on a proven scientific principle.

The waterwheel incorporates a patented, integrated spiraling channel which performs the

pumping function. This innovation leads to an unprecedented architecture that allows to increase the efficiency of the pumping principle by 50% and for a lighter (therefore portable) product, which is mass producible in a cost-efficient manner, at a standardized quality.

Due to all its benefits, the Barsha Pump presents a scalable, easy to implement hardware innovation that addresses the need for cost effective irrigation at substantially lower cost than existing solutions.

aQysta has started implementing pumps since 2016 and started its first operational office in Nepal and opened in 2019 its second operational office in Malawi. The Barsha Pumps have been installed in over 25 different countries such as Zambia, Kenya, Colombia, Indonesia, India and Zimbabwe. As we speak, the Barsha Pump has irrigated over 300HA of land, 500Million liters of water pumped, 7000 direct beneficiaries served and over 300T of emissions reduced.

Since 2019, aQysta Malawi has installed 30 pumps in Malawi with special focus on the southern region of Malawi. Over the last 2.5 month aQysta has installed 11 pumps; 8 pumps in the Southern region (4xMulanje, 3xZomba, 1xThyolo and 1xChiradzulu) and 2 pumps in the Central region (2xLilongwe). Since the opening of the local office aQysta Malawi has over 50 hectares irrigated and over 1,500 farmers trained. As we speak aQysta has opened 3 more operational offices in Colombia, Indonesia and India.

See the link below for an explanation of an operational Barsha Pump and link to impact assessment for aQysta India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE71V88FTig&feature=youtu.be

https://login.aqysta.com/drive/d/f/560144448118371847

Our Barsha Pump is essentially a tool to provide water. However, the impact that it creates does not end just with access to water. Our Barsha Pump can serve as a tool for social and economic transformation, and all this can be achieved in harmony with nature without causing any harm to environment.

By providing year-round access to reliable irrigation, small holder farmers can shift from subsistence to commercial farming, increase their income and break the vicious cycle of poverty.  Commercial farming for small holders creates jobs for both landholders and others who work in the farm or sell the products in the market, which contributes tremendously to enhance global agricultural productivity, food security, economic prosperity and counters malnutrition.

Cash crop cultivation during the dry season is still not practiced by the majority of Malawian smallholder farmers. It is proven that farmers can increase their income between around 150% with the Barsha pump and correct training/guidance. The Barsha pump also serves to realize an optimal harvest in the rainy season as it helps to overcome dry spells.

The Barsha pump together with the Farm incubator program  (crop management, good agricultural practices and market linkage) enables small holder farmers to produce and sell their crops at the highest price (for example dry season) and increase their harvest up to 5 times while reducing 500KG CO2 per HA.

Next to the direct beneficiaries the project will have a positive impact on rural labour forces as it includes local workforce in the sales, production, assembly, logistics and installation of the Barsha Pump and other farming inputs.

aQysta has the aim to become a leader in sustainable irrigation by 2025. At the moment aQysta Malawi, is focused on the Southern part in Malawi with the idea to be country wide operational in 2022. All pilot systems implemented by aQysta Malawi will be monitored to duplicate them for further use in other countries. Research has taught us that countries such as Zambia and Mozambique have high potential for implementing the Barsha Pump and farm incubator model.

Globally, aQysta’s Barsha pumps has irrigated over 300 HA, pumped 500 Million litres of water, served 7,000 small holder farmers and avoided 300T of CO2. The prognoses are to install 6,500 Barsha Pumps in 5 years, serving 460,000 farmers with improved food security, creating 130,000 jobs.

In Malawi, so far aQysta has implemented 30 Barsha pumps, irrigated 50HA with 1,500 beneficiaries. At the moment we have an average growth of over 250 farmers as beneficiary every month. According to our prognoses we will have installed 60 pumps by the end of 2020 which will bring

the total served farmers over 3,000 in total. For 2022 we are aiming to reach over 150 installations which will serve over 8,250 farmers. In five year times, we have installed over 500 Barsha Pumps in Malawi with close to 30,000 farmers as beneficiary. The coming years we hope to expand our actual office in Zomba (Southern Malawi) to a regional hub with departments in Malawi and countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania.

Further grown of Barsha pump and farm incubator model:

The Barsha pump is aQysta’s first innovative product available on the market. In 5 years’ time we hope to serve over 30,000 local small holder farmers in Malawi with the Barsha Pump and farm incubator program. As the incubator program is relatively new, we will unlock the large market of small holder farmers, that currently cannot afford the upfront costs of a pump, in the next year. With replication of incubator program in Malawi we plan to create, within 5 years, impact for 10,000 local small holder farmers in neighbouring countries with a further program implementation globally in operational countries such as Nepal, Indonesia, Colombia and India.

Reducing of costs:

Due technical analyses from our team in Delft, The Netherlands (Headquarters) we are reducing production costs every year, which will enable us to offer the Barsha Pump for a lower price (to attract more customers). Our prognose is that production costs can be reduced with almost 40% over the coming years.

New innovations:

Because aQysta is aiming to reach as many possible local small holders, we will implement new technologies such as the Solar Barsha Pump (will increase the potential irrigation sites in Malawi significant) and the HyPump , which will be aQysta’s second product, designed to be used from irrigation canals with a capacity 10 times larger than the Barsha Pump.

New product and new technology
The Barsha pump uses a technology which is unknown by local farmers. Most farmers, which haven’t seen the pump in operation, do not believe in technology. As the pump weight approximately 80KG and needs 2 hours of installation, it is hard to take them to showcases and roadshows. Due the limited number pumps installed, it is challenging for farmers to travel to a site with an operational Barsha pump.

Local farmers are used to flood irrigation
Despite active campaign from government on the negative side effects of flood irrigation (non-equitable water use which cause water conflicts) most local small holder farmers believe that flood irrigation is the most effective and successful way of irrigation. Our Barsha Pump is fully complied with the new water management strategy implemented by government in 2018, and therefor ideal with a drip or sprinkler irrigation system.

Funding for mass production of the Barsha pump
As the Barsha Pump is produced on relative small scale, the manufactory prices are high. At the moment it cost approximately 600USD to produce a Barsha pump.

Legal costs to open sub branches in neighbouring countries
Settlement and registration costs for potential sub branches in neighbouring countries are high and a hassle to get in order.

Limitation on suitable sites
The need of a running stream of river limits the number of suitable sites. With GIS and physical research we do have a database with close to 1,000 suitable sites/areas within in Malawi.

New product and new technology

With implementing more Barsha Pumps, mouth to mouth word will increase. To participate on that, we plan roadshows with a Barsha Pump on the back of our pick up (not operational). We have noticed when a product is physically available, explanation of the technology increase the confidence of the farmer (despite the pump quality isn’t visible). Secondly we are planning to equip our marketing team with tablets which will enable us to impact to the farmers. As last, with our incubator program, local small holder farmers do not make costs before our Barsha Pump has proven its work.

Farmers used to flood irrigation
Due specific training before installation and corporations with Government/NGO’s we hope to train the local small holder farmer on the benefits of drip and sprinkler irrigation.

Funding for mass production and research of the Barsha pump
With funds for mass production and research on materials the cost price for the Barsha Pump can be reduced significant. At the moment it costs approximately 600USD to produce a Barsha pump. Ideally the costs will be reduced to  300 /400USD per pump.

Costs to open new branches in other countries
Ideally we are cooperating with an already established company or NGO, before we open our own branch.

Limitation on suitable sites
With the introduction of the Barsha Solar Pump (2021) we will increase the number of suitable sites significantly. Another product of aQysta: The ‘HyPump’ has recently launched.

aQysta Malawi was established in 2018 with the goal to enter the Malawian market with renewable energy pumping technology to create impact. aQysta Malawi is a local entity of parent company aQysta B.V., a high-tech company which was founded in The Netherlands. aQysta B.V. conducts technology research, product design and development, sourcing and global sales of its innovative irrigation technologies. aQysta Malawi implements aQysta’s products with global expertise in a local context. Next to providing the renewable energy pumps (hydropower), aQysta Malawi works with the farm incubator as sales model to guarantee farmers a smooth start to commercial farming.

Malawi staff specific

Tim van der Linden - Country Manager- Fulltime

Kumbukani Munthali - Operations Manager and trainer - Fulltime

Bruno Matiya - Senior technician and trainer - Fulltime

Grace Salanaye - Marketing officer - Fulltime

Agatha Phiri - Administrative officer - Fulltime

Chisomo Kuyenda - Sales officer - Fulltime

Charles Ntonyo - Welder and junior technician - Probation

Felix Maluwa - Guard and assisting with installations - Probation

Vicky Boloya - Intern (business management) - Fulltime

The project team will be comprised of a mix of experts from different disciplines. The Malawian team is leading the execution of the project. Tim van der Linden, the managing director of the entity studied community development in The Netherlands, has lived in Malawi for 8 years and joint aQysta Malawi in November 2019 after leading a 80 person company in the past. Tim is currently also implementing the UNDP funded MICF project of aQysta Malawi and has built up a team of experienced agricultural specialists that advice farmers on the correct usage of aQysta’s pumps in Malawi. The team has several young experts (degrees) in the following fields: Technology, Agriculture, Agri-business, Irrigation, community development and sales.

Second, the project will receive technical assistance from the Dutch mother company aQysta BV, which holds expertise regarding the implementation of hydro and solar powered irrigation pumps: All of the technologies to be implemented in the project have been developed in-house over the past years. Furthermore, the EASI-Pay financing scheme has been successfully piloted since 2017 in Asia. The knowledge acquired during this project will be brought into the project. The commercial and managing director of the Dutch team will thereby support regarding the development of the training material for the farm incubator, assessment of credit worthiness and project management. The Dutch team has built a strong track record over the past years, as it has bootstrapped its way towards the commercial development and market introduction of the Barsha Pump without private investments.

• MICF is assisting aQysta Malawi in their goal to become self-sustainable within 3 years. MICF is mainly focussed on our business model and operational costs. aQysta Malawi has every month a meeting with MICF to discuss progress and further plans. The assistance of MICF is planned to end in 2022. 

• Feed The Future and aQysta Malawi have since April 2020 a signed MOU on creating of impact and to make farmers aware on the benefits of innovative farming tools such as drip irrigation. 

• EDP is assisting aQysta BV (The Netherlands) with creating impact and further development of the payment methods for small holder farmers in Malawi. The corporation between aQysta BV and EDP is ending in July 2021.

In Malawi, smallholder farmers lack financing for access to clean energy and do not have any financial track record, which makes it impossible for potential lenders to carry out due diligence. This setting leads to extremely high interest rates for loans to smallholder farmers, due to a high risk of default. In turn, these high interest rates make it virtually impossible for farmers to succeed commercially. The farm incubator offers an incubation program of 3 years that trains smallholders on the correct usage of renewable irrigation pumps agricultural inputs and farm economics. At the same time, the day to day work in the program allows to get to know the trustworthiness, reliability and therefore creditworthiness of the individual farmers, reflecting their long-term bankability. The project intends to finance these promising candidates beyond the incubator. The business of the farm incubator can grow competitively as it will achieve lower default rates than market average due to the extended due diligence process during the incubation program. Offering this pay-per-harvest financing to smallholders that have been trained and evaluated for reliability unlocks the large market of smallholder farmers in Malawi. With an increasing number of farmers graduating and being financed by EASI-Pay, the business model will result in a major leap towards aQysta’s goal to achieve a balanced commercial, social and environmental return.

The main barrier is to bring our innovation to the small holder farmers, who cannot afford the upfront costs of the pumps and convince them that change can improve their lives. Local small holder farmers have grown up with rain season farming and small-scale flood irrigation. Farmers are afraid that a change will lead to crop damage, followed by reduced income and hunger. To convince more farmers to adopt the Barsha Pump and proven innovative farming solutions, we have set-up our incubator program which enables farmers to pay back costs with harvest and installments.

With the prize funding of Solve we will expand our marketing and purchase different tools to show small holder farmers the clear benefits (less water usage, dry season farming, avoid conflict of water rights) of innovative farming. aQysta will work hand in hand with the National Water Resource Authority (NWRA) and will provide water rights certificates to farmers if needed. Funding facilitates expansion of the pilot operations of the farm incubator which requires initial capital and technical assistance that we are not able to fund fully on our own yet.

As Solve has been working with several innovative start-ups we can imagine that the above barriers have been mentioned before. Therefor we would be grateful if Solve can bring us in contact with other applicants who have overcome similar barriers. We also believe that improving the business case of aQysta Malawi towards replicable growth with support from the solve network will allow to attract future commercial.

At aQysta we believe in sharing knowledge to improve quality of products and services. To reach as much as possible local farmers, we have to work together with other companies, government and NGO’s. Our partnership goals are explained as follow: 

Marketing, Media and exposure: aQysta is new in Malawi and the Barsha pump is a new innovation which is unknown by all the local small holder farmers. By working together with NGO’s and governmental institutions we hope to create more awareness for our pumps, while we give more knowledge back to our partners due training of farmers in cost and emission reduced irrigation methods. 

Funding and revenue model: Our farm incubator model is new and has never been implemented before. We would like to learn from past experiences of other previous applicants who have introduced a payment method for their innovation.

One of the main goals for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is; ‘Our Financial Services for the Poor (FSP) program supports government and private-sector partners in a shared effort to establish financial services for the world’s poorest to use to build more prosperous and secure lives for themselves, their families, and their communities’.  An corporative with the foundation will provide aQysta the needed experience and network to upscale the farm incubator/EASI-PAY program in order to reach more small holder farmers country wide.  Our farm incubator program suits perfectly with the often used statement of the foundation; By giving people the tools to lead productive lives, we can help them out of poverty.

The Ep-Fet-Po program from The World Bank Group has several similarities with the our farm incubator program. By aQysta, we believe that the start of a commercial farm for small holder farmers should go without investments against high interest rates.  We would like to partnership The World Bank Group, (especially with those who have experience in setting up the Ep-Fet-Po program) in order to gain more experience and advise on how to expand our farm incubator program country and region wide (South East Africa).

Despite that the Foundation for food and agricultural research is mainly operating in The United States of America, it would be the ideal partner to improve our services and knowledge in the field. Their sustainable water program and agricultural experience could increase the impact of the Barsha Pump tremendously.

We believe that aQysta’s Barsha Pump will change lives of thousands of local small holder farmers while reducing emissions to 0%. The combination of innovative technology and intensive training makes our product a life changer for families staying in the rural areas of Malawi, and other African countries.  With the Barsha Pump, local small holder farmers will be able to have access to a second and third harvest season each year. To combine the use of the Barsha Pump with the farm incubator program, small holder farmers will benefit from improved supply chain practices, crop management, up to 150% more income, and pest control management while not taking any financial risks due high interest loans.

The fund released from the With the Future Planet Capital Prize will be used to the following development areas in order to create impact on thousands of small holder farmers:

Expansion of operations:
aQysta Malawi is aiming to expand country wide by the end of 2021 and over boarders (Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia) within a few years. With the Future Planet Capital Prize, aQysta will be able to scale up its operations and  target the entire country by the end of 2020/ early 2021 with pilots in Mozambique starting next year. In short this means that aQysta Malawi as a company will have a head start of almost 1.5 year in comparison with the original plan.

Reducing of manufactory costs:
With the fund we can drop the manufactory costs of the Barsha Pump (and other innovative farming tools) significant which will make farmers, following the incubator program, able to take home higher profits. With the higher crop profits, farmers will be able to invest in extra farming tools/products such as high quality seeds and fertilizer.

Network and promotion:
Due the network of SOLVE and all others organisations involved with the Future Planet Capital Prize, we hope to expand our network locally and globally.  This network will be helpful to optimize our business model, finding partners to corporate with in order to create more impact, and creating more awareness for the Barsha Pump and incubator model due extended network.