Accra, Ghana, 22-23 February 2017
LORENTZ congratulate our Sales & Service Partners DENG for a successful Solar Irrigation Workshop Feb 22nd and 23rd in Accra, Ghana.
It was a unique get together of stakeholders from the Ghanaian Government, Microfinance, irrigation experts and of course solar pump professionals.
We were honored by the participation of Dr. Ben Vas Nyamadi, the Chief Executive of Ghana Irrigation Development Authority.
Dr. Ben very convincingly demonstrated to the audience that solar water pumping is the most effective way forward to ensure food security in Ghana and a growing prosperity in the majority farming population.
His much applauded speech was followed by contributions from GIZ, who pointed out the importance of solar for rural electrification and energy independency.
Callighana, partner of Netafim who is world market leader for drip irrigation in Ghana, presented drip irrigation as a very cost-effective means of irrigating a wide range of crops.
During their presentation, a representative from Rural Development Fund, a Ghanaian Microfinance startup that incorporates solar pumping into their portfolio, pointed out that solar pumps are financeable just like other farming implements and that they are working on a reference case.
The second day was a field trip to a farm where a remote-monitored LORENTZ PS2-1800 is irrigating 1 acre with Netafim drip lines. The farm belongs to Nana Danso, who has invested in solar pumping and drip irrigation to improve his crop yields and produce cash-crop in low season.
He is currently experimenting with several different crops such as tomatoes, onions and eggplants for the national market. In about 3 months he plans to have the first harvest from his 1 acre plot and will then extend the drip irrigation to the next part of his farm.
We will follow his development and wish him the best of luck!