Sub-Saharan African private sustainable infrastructure project developer InfraCo Africa has made a $12-million equity investment in climate-smart agriculture equipment company SunCulture to scale the latter’s solar irrigation offering across the region.

The investment is part of an oversubscribed $27.5-million Series B fundraise that is set to deliver access to Internet of Things- (IoT-) enabled solar-powered irrigation systems to hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers by 2030.

The majority of these farmers currently rely on rain-fed agriculture or on the use of carbon dioxide-emitting diesel or petrol irrigation pumps, InfraCo Africa says.

SunCulture offers farmers a more sustainable route to managing climate-induced variability of rainfall by displacing the need to use expensive and polluting fossil fuel-based pumps. The company designs, manufactures, finances, installs and maintains solar irrigation systems that have safe, low-voltage direct current pumps.

The systems' pumps are capable of pumping up to 1 200 ℓ/h of water, and the affordable systems are targeted at smallholdings of about one to three acres.

Further, the company's solar photovoltaic systems include sprinklers, drip irrigation and battery storage that maximise the efficiency of water use by enabling farmers to irrigate their land in the early morning, thereby minimising evaporation, and to target water to individual plants, thereby avoiding waste.

“The IoT-enabled systems include remote monitoring and predictive maintenance. The battery systems also include domestic lighting and enable farmers to charge small devices, such as mobile phones,” says SunCulture CEO Samir Ibrahim.

Additionally, SunCulture offers its pumps to smallholder farmers through a pay-as-you-grow model. The total cost of ownership for SunCulture's pumps is 40% to 60% lower than the costs of a fuel-based pump, depending on payment plans, he adds.

To further improve the affordability of its pumps for smallholder farmers, SunCulture has registered for a carbon credit programme, after having its emissions reductions independently verified by environmental standards organisation Verra, and thereby reducing the upfront cost of its pumps for smallholder farmers, he says.

“With access to irrigation, farmers can increase their yields, thereby ensuring greater food security for themselves and their families in the face of the impacts of climate change. Increased agricultural incomes can support wider sustainable economic growth and prosperity in rural areas,” comments InfraCo Africa chief investment and risk officer Claire Jarratt.

“In addition to our investment, InfraCo Africa will support SunCulture to further develop its health, safety, environmental, social and governance frameworks as it grows and seeks to enter new markets.

“SunCulture’s approach to leveraging consumer financing and carbon credits to reduce the upfront cost of its systems for farmers also aligns well with our strategy,” she adds.