Connecting farmers, suppliers, and lenders to scale solar irrigation in northern Nigeria
Research in northern Nigeria identified weak market linkages as a major barrier to solar irrigation adoption. A “missing middle” of limited coordination among farmers, suppliers, financial institutions, and government agencies is slowing the process.
- Markets
- water
- irrigation
By Hyacinth Edeh, Bedru Balana, Maryam Abdullahi, and Oliver Kiptoo KiruiNovember 5, 2026
Key takeaways
- Research in northern Nigeria identified weak market linkages as a major barrier to solar irrigation adoption. A “missing middle” of limited coordination among farmers, suppliers, financial institutions, and government agencies is slowing the process.
- A demand-supply linkage event in Jigawa State brought key actors together to address this challenge. Participants shared information, built partnerships, and identified opportunities for expanding solar irrigation.
- Access to finance remains critical for scaling the use of solar-powered pumps. Discussions highlighted strong farmer interest in solar-powered irrigation, but underscored the need for affordable financing and repayment models that reflect agricultural production cycles.
Small-scale irrigation is one of the most cost-effective levers available for transforming smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, and nowhere is the untapped potential larger than in Nigeria. The country’s agrifood system anchors the non-oil economy—contributing roughly 40% of GDP and about two-thirds of employment—yet production remains overwhelmingly rainfed, leaving some 41 million agricultural households exposed to an increasingly erratic climate.
Northern Nigeria, home to more than 60% of the country’s farming households, combines three assets that make it especially suited to solar-powered irrigation: abundant sunlight; extensive shallow groundwater; and strong, unmet farmer demand for affordable, off-grid pumping systems. Given volatile diesel and petrol prices, solar-powered irrigation is a climate-smart alternative that enables year-round, drought-resilient production. And yet only about 3% of Nigeria’s ~3.1 million hectares of irrigable land is under any form of irrigation—a persistent puzzle that recent research helps to explain.