SIPIK 1 project
The Sipik 1 project was born in January 2024 during a trip to Kenya.
It is now finished.
It involved a farm located west of Mount Kenya in central Kenya.
The project aimed to define a concrete irrigation solution powered by solar energy that could serve as a model at the local level.
About the project
Farm Context
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Farm size: 8 hectares
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Production area: Approximately 2 hectares, limited by water availability problems and irregular weather conditions
Local Challenges
Farmers in the Mount Kenya region face several challenges:
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Water shortages: Reduce agricultural yields and leave crops vulnerable to pests and diseases
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Electricity supply: Unreliable and expensive, with increasingly prohibitive reliance on fossil fuels
Regional and National Priority
These challenges have increased considerably with the past 4 years of significant drought. Finding and proposing sustainable solutions has become a priority, supported both regionally and nationally by the Kenyan government, to meet the needs of the population and promote better economic and agricultural growth.
Status of the Sipik 1
Project
Status: Completed
Total cost: 1500 euros financed 60% by the T2E association
Objective: Selection and verification of the operation of a pumping system with 2 solar panels installed on a mast, the secure submerged pump and the reduced-scale distribution system including a secure control at the foot of the panels
Results :
Objectives achieved and exceeded with:
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Securing the installation. From 3000 to 4000 liters of water can be pumped and distributed per hour depending on the level of sunshine.
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2 successive days of information organized successively with experts (Irrigation, solar energy, soil analysis and crops, environment, and local attachés from the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture) and future users, local farmers from the Nyeri region. The latter created the Mount Kenya Farmers Association to best share the benefits of the SIPIK 1 project and its second phase: SIPIK 2