Initiative:

NEXUS Gains

Energizing food and water systems

Work Package 3 (Energizing food and water systems sustainably and inclusively) co-develops scalable business and finance models for accelerated, inclusive access to clean energy for food and water systems, with a focus on women and other marginalized groups.

The challenge

In many low-income countries, lack of access to clean energy is a key obstacle to agricultural productivity and growth and hampers the development of agribusinesses. It also limits the production of nutritious, high-value foods, disempowers women, leads to deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, and threatens overall ecosystem health and biodiversity. Clean energy technologies such as solar irrigation can improve access and incomes of smallholder farmers, but it has been challenging to reach women farmers and other marginalized groups with such technologies. Other clean energy solutions such as solar, micro-hydropower, wind, and bioenergy are also critical to transforming agrifood systems. However, a lack of knowledge about appropriate locations and the siloed development of water and energy interventions, as well as a lack of appropriate business and finance models that can reach poorer, marginalized farmers, limit their roll-out.

Our research

Work Package 3 implements action research to engage with water and energy ministries, the private sector, and rural communities within target basins to find out which technologies work best in different settings and how rural women and men can participate in the rural energy economy, with a particular focus on agrifood systems. The potential of solar-powered groundwater irrigation systems receives particular attention.

Research questions

  1. What rural energy portfolios and business and finance models best support and accelerate rural clean energy access for food system transformation and environmental sustainability?
  2. How can solar-powered irrigation enhance agricultural production while supporting sustainable groundwater utilization, inclusion, economic growth, and ecosystem health?
  3. What are effective pathways for women to access renewable energy in ways that strengthen their agency and entrepreneurship?

Outcomes

Solar irrigation

NEXUS Gains has carried out a substantial body of work across India, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, and sub-Saharan Africa to identify opportunities and challenges around the uptake of solar irrigation in a water–energy–food–ecosystems health nexus context. This includes new insights on the current deployment of solar-powered irrigation systems; analyses of how groundwater systems are affected by large-scale deployment of solar irrigation systems; tools to support countries to identify profitable deployment locations for solar-powered irrigation; and policy analyses to identify entry points to strengthen equity in access to solar systems. The NEXUS Gains team participated in critical global and regional reviews of solar-powered irrigation; supported the development of solar-sizing tools; analyzed the applicability of different solar solutions in Nepal; and participated in several outreach and engagement events, including UNFCCC and UNCCD COPs; among other activities. Building on this large body of work, NEXUS Gains has been invited to support the design and analyses of several new solar-powered irrigation programs and continues to shape the global discourse on solar irrigation.

Women’s energy access

NEXUS Gains developed frameworks identifying pathways from women’s energy access to various benefit streams, and data were collected on rural energy sources, access, and use portfolios in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and sub-Saharan Africa. An initial Women’s Empowerment through Clean Energy Index (WEEI) was developed and field tested, with the publication of a policy note sharing initial insights. Gendered energy analyses were further developed and published for Bihar and Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan. The WEEI helps identify levers to strengthen women’s agency in energy decisions for domestic and productive uses relative to men, and traces women’s agency in energy access to broader human development outcomes, such as better household nutrition and employment opportunities for rural women. The tool has since been further developed and applied in Uzbekistan.

A second tool developed by NEXUS Gains is the Rural Household Energy Insecurity Experiences Scale (RHEIES). This tool aims to provide information on the lived experiences of rural households grappling with energy poverty. While initially developed for Ethiopia based on qualitative data, the RHEIES has since been applied in quantitative surveys in both Sri Lanka and Uganda.

In addition to tools and analyses to support rural women’s access to clean energy access and use, NEXUS Gains has also analyzed government institutions in Nepal to strengthen benefits from existing gender strategies in the energy sector.

Business and finance models for clean energy access

NEXUS Gains worked with NGOs and the private sector in India, Pakistan, and sub-Saharan Africa to identify business and finance models to support more equitable solar-powered irrigation. This included direct engagement with the private sector on financing solar-powered irrigation in Pakistan; engagement with NGOs on a variety of clean energy solutions in India; and analysis of a cluster-farming program in Ethiopia that aims to reach 1 million farmers with mechanization, including solar-powered irrigation. Other analyses were undertaken in Uganda to assess who benefits from a World Bank supported subsidy program for solar-powered irrigation and to identify avenues to increase equity; and in Nigeria to assess the location of profitable solar-irrigation development based on income generated from the deployment.

Work Package 3 innovations

  • Solar irrigation pump sizing tool for South Asia
  • Solar irrigation explorer for Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Solar irrigation analyses using a nexus approach
  • Women’s Empowerment in Energy Index (WEEI)
  • Rural Household Energy Insecurity Experiences Scale (RHEIES)

Contact us

Claudia Ringler: c.ringler@cgiar.org

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