Solar water pumps offer a life changing solution for smallholder farmers by reducing costs, increasing yields and providing climate resilience. Pay as you go (PAYGo) financing opens up access to this transformational technology to the poorest farmers.
These pumps bring cost savings, energy independence, and simplicity in installation and maintenance. By harnessing solar energy, farmers can secure a reliable water source, improving farm productivity and contributing to a more sustainable farming system.
What is PAYGo?
Pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) financing offers several benefits for farmers, particularly for asset-based financing of solar irrigation pumps:
- Access to Solar Pumps: Farmers can access solar irrigation pumps without needing traditional collateral or a credit history. The pump itself serves as security, allowing farmers to intensify production and increase their incomes.
- Inclusion: Asset-based financing helps overcome credit barriers, benefiting resource-poor farmers, including women. It’s an innovative way to enable investment in productive assets
- Training and Servicing: Including training and regular product servicing during the repayment period fills the need for information and after-sales services.
PAYGo enhances financial inclusion, empowers farmers, and contributes to sustainable agricultural practices.
How do smallholder farmers benefit?
Solar irrigation pumps can significantly boost the income of smallholder farmers. Here are some key findings:
- Increased Income: For farmers interviewed in a case study, total income increased by an average of 48%, and farm income nearly doubled after adopting solar pumps (1).
- Dry Season Income: The added dry season income for eight farm families, divided by donor subsidies, suggests a benefit of $28 for every dollar donated (1).
- Crop Yield: Solar pumps allow farmers to cultivate larger areas, leading to higher crop yields. Reliable water supply enables the switch to higher-value crops, such as French beans and peas (2).
- Cost Savings: Solar pumps operate without fuel costs, reducing expenses and increasing net income (3).
Solar pumps offer a substantial income boost for smallholder farmers, improving livelihoods and food security
LORENTZ PAYGo
LORENTZ solar pumps fit a wide range of productive use applications, contributing to sustainable development in the agricultural sector and improving food security. There are a wide range of systems available with technology to support different PAYGo business models. This could be from a true pay as you go financing, to a leasing model.
LORENTZ S PAYGo solar pumps support the OpenPAYGo Token, distributors will have the ability to choose any PAYGo software platform for managing LORENTZ PAYGo pumping systems, providing better customer support and increased flexibility.
Download your LORENTZ S1-200 PAYGo brochure here:
Download your LORENTZ S1-200 technical datasheet here:
Why work with LORENTZ?
LORENTZ PAYGo allows distributors to take advantage of the increasing accessibility and popularity of solar pumping among farmers. This results in a higher demand and sales volume, ensuring a steady cash flow. Moreover, this model fosters customer loyalty, thereby strengthening the relationship between the two parties.
Adding a new product line to your portfolio always has risk. Will it sell? Will it create support issues? Is the supplier reliable? Our focus is on supporting partners to serve the local market.
LORENTZ have always gone to market through local partners, we don’t sell our products directly. We have designed products specifically for PAYGo distribution, these products have simple instructions, are totally plug and play, repairable and very reliable in use.
We have challenged ourselves to make solar water pumping simple.
References
(1) Case Study: Solar Irrigation Pump Impact on Smallholder Farm Income. https://regeneration.org/sites/default/files/2023-11/Solar%20Pump%20Case%20Studies%202023-11-11-%20reduced_0.pdf
(2) A ‘big bet’ on irrigation for Kenya’s smallholder farmers. https://dalberg.com/our-ideas/a-big-bet-on-irrigation-for-kenyas-smallholder-farmers/
(3) Water From the Sun: Solar-Powered Water Pumps Offer African Farmers a a Way Out of Poverty. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/water-from-the-sun