IWMI, Strathmore University Partner to Boost Solar-Powered Agriculture in Kenya and Ethiopia

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has signed a new partnership with the Strathmore University Energy Research Centre (SERC) to design and deliver training programs on solar-powered agricultural technologies across Kenya and Ethiopia. The agreement, formalized on April 24, aims to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity needed to scale up solar irrigation and related applications in East Africa’s farming sector.

The collaboration pairs IWMI’s research expertise and deep-rooted relationships with farmers, private companies and policymakers with SERC’s track record in energy research, professional training and project development.

Partnership Details

Under the agreement, IWMI and SERC will jointly develop curricula covering solar irrigation, cold storage, agri-processing and food drying, tailored to the needs of technicians, extension officers, private-sector field staff and students at technical and vocational institutions.

Josey Kamanda, an innovation scaling researcher at IWMI and the institute’s Kenya country lead for the initiative, said the shift to solar-powered farming depends on more than hardware availability. Effective adoption, he noted, requires people and institutions equipped with the skills to use, manage and promote these technologies — a gap the new training programs are designed to close.

Background: The SoLAR Project

The partnership falls under the Solar Energy for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) project, an IWMI-led initiative backed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). SoLAR’s first phase ran in South Asia, covering Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, where the project worked to unlock financing and build enabling conditions for solar energy adoption in agriculture.

SoLAR’s second phase has now expanded into East Africa, with country-specific activities launching in both Kenya and Ethiopia. The project’s broader goal is to remove structural and financial barriers that have historically slowed the uptake of solar technology among smallholder farmers and agribusinesses, while building the institutional foundations needed for long-term, sustainable scale-up.

Why Solar Energy Matters for East African Agriculture

Agriculture remains central to the economies of both Kenya and Ethiopia, but persistent drought cycles and limited access to reliable energy continue to constrain productivity. In Kenya, solar irrigation is increasingly positioned as a tool to strengthen water governance and support rural economic growth. In Ethiopia, solar-powered irrigation systems are gaining traction as a practical pathway to improve rural livelihoods and reduce dependence on erratic rainfall.

The SoLAR initiative is designed to complement, rather than duplicate, existing national energy strategies in both countries, reinforcing government-led efforts to expand clean and reliable power access for irrigation and other productive farm uses.

What the Training Program Will Cover

Before curriculum development begins, IWMI and SERC will conduct a comprehensive capacity assessment in Kenya. This will involve stakeholder consultation workshops alongside desktop research to map existing knowledge gaps and identify barriers preventing wider adoption of solar technologies — including financing constraints that disproportionately affect women and other vulnerable groups.

Findings from this assessment will shape a gender-responsive curriculum combining technical instruction with hands-on, practical training. Strathmore University will lead the rollout, with content and teaching methods adapted to the varying experience levels, roles and educational backgrounds of participants — ranging from government extension agents to private-sector technicians.

Churchill Saoke, director of the Strathmore Energy Research Centre, said capacity building is the linchpin of scaling solar irrigation sustainably. Equipping trainers, farmers, agribusinesses and policymakers with practical knowledge, he said, will accelerate adoption, deepen local ownership and ensure clean irrigation benefits reach communities across both countries.

Institutional Collaboration and Governance

SERC’s involvement is reinforced by its seat on Kenya’s SoLAR Country Project Management Committee (CPMC), a body that brings together government agencies, research institutions and private-sector partners to guide implementation and align project activities with national development priorities. This structure is intended to ensure the training curricula stay responsive to on-the-ground country needs while supporting coordinated, shared learning across stakeholder groups.

Regional Knowledge Exchange

Beyond Kenya and Ethiopia, the partnership is expected to serve as a platform for South-South learning, enabling Kenyan and Ethiopian stakeholders to exchange lessons with each other as well as draw on experience from IWMI’s earlier extension agent training work in India. Organizers say these cross-country insights will help institutionalize solar agriculture education within regional training systems over the longer term.

What’s Next

With the capacity assessment set to get underway in Kenya, the partnership marks an early but structurally significant step in IWMI and SDC’s broader push to mainstream solar energy across East African agriculture. If successful, the model could inform how similar training frameworks are designed and deployed in other drought-prone agricultural economies across the region.

Suggested External  Links:

• IWMI official website (iwmi.cgiar.org)