Through Efficiency for Access, CLASP ran an awareness-raising campaign across five sub-counties in Machakos, Kenya. The campaign sought to stimulate consumer awareness of the benefits of solar water pumps (SWPs) for improved agricultural productivity and potentially increase the demand for SWPs among rural households.

The campaign engagement strategy included a variety of mass communication and tailored direct-to-consumer activities, including community education forums, farm-to-farm visits, product demonstrations, and radio advertisements. By the end of December, we reached over 30,000 people through direct in-person engagement, and we estimate that the local radio ads reached 3,000,000 people, exceeding our target audience of 770 households.

We partnered with Shamba Shape Up to film an episode on a solar water pump installation for Ted, a Kenyan farmer who previously relied on an electric pump for irrigation.

Here are some insights from the campaign:

• Between the baseline and the end-line surveys, awareness levels increased by 46%, indicating that more people were knowledgeable about the benefits of SWPs.
• Almost 80% of the farmers interviewed indicated they would like to adopt solar irrigation within one year; but we have not yet seen any conversion into sales. A lack of financing options was cited as the main reason.
• Community members identified water source challenges, inadequate knowledge and lack of capital as the most significant barriers to solar irrigation adoption.
• Despite increased awareness of the benefits of solar water pumping, there is a massive gap in local supply and brand-specific technical awareness among the farmers.

Download the campaign readout or watch our YouTube video to learn about the campaign’s outcomes and Efficiency for Access’ recommendations for increasing demand among rural households.

You can also watch a recording of the live Q&A session Efficiency for Access hosted with Kilian Blumenthal from Water and Energy for Food and Kavita Ndolo, an agribusiness owner from Machakos, Kenya for insights on the awareness-raising campaign.