Due to the negative impacts of urbanisation, water for agricultural irrigation is getting scarcer day by day. To encounter this challenge, various strategies and technologies have been developed to practice smart-agriculture.

It is encouraging to learn that the USAID's Kenya Smallholder Solar Irrigation Project, funded by Feed the Future, has developed a solar water pump kit which they named as Sunflower Solar Pump. It is capable of drawing water from a variety of sources including groundwater and lakes for irrigation. As the pump is powered by solar energy, the kit is environment friendly. Kenyan farmers have started benefitting by using Sunflower Solar Pump. The farmers have been provided with loan on easy installments to purchase the kit.

The USAID and Feed the Future deserves appreciation for innovating the pump and disseminating the technology among the farmers of Kenya. I think the technology can also be adopted by the farmers in Bangladesh for drawing water from various sources at a cheaper price.

Professor M Zahidul Haque
Department of Agricultural Extension & Information System, SAU, Dhaka