When the sun made water more certain

Uganda’s agriculture employs more than 70% of the population and contributes around 24% of GDP. Yet much of the country’s farming remains dependent on rainfall, leaving smallholders exposed to droughts, floods and increasingly unpredictable weather. Coffee is among Uganda’s most important agricultural exports.

For years, irrigation on Gaddafi Nassour’s coffee farm depended on a diesel-powered pump. Fuel was an ongoing expense. Water availability could become uncertain during dry periods. And every additional cost put pressure on what the farm could earn.

Then the source of energy changed

A solar-powered water pump began drawing on something Gaddafi already had in abundance: sunlight. The difference was not simply that a diesel pump had been replaced by a solar one. It was that water could reach the farm with far less dependence on fuel.

For a farmer, this matters in very practical ways. Reliable energy means water can reach crops when they need it. Lower dependence on diesel can reduce operating costs. And greater control over irrigation can give farmers more confidence to invest in their fields.

Limited irrigation, climate-related shocks, inadequate infrastructure and restricted access to finance remain important constraints on Uganda’s agricultural sector. This is where solar can change the equation.

The sun does not need to be transported to the farm. Once the right technology, financing, skills and systems are in place, its energy can be converted into something farmers can use: water, productivity, income and resilience.