Historically, the Government of Uganda (GoU) has been more engaged in promoting large-scale irrigation for commercial farmers due to a limited understanding of the business case for small-scale irrigation. As such, it is vital to provide information to the government and development partners on the state of the market, existing challenges and potential interventions to scale the market sustainably.
The purpose of this advisory paper is to identify existing gaps in scaling solar water pumping systems, enhance understanding of the sector, and highlight opportunities for collaboration between the GoU, private sector players, development partners, financiers and other relevant stakeholders. This paper specifically highlights effective business models for supporting solar irrigation, required government interventions, policies and regulations to accelerate the sector, and the investment required for scale both from public and private funders.