SUN4Water
Training Material
The SPIS curricula exists in many countries. There is a strong collaboration with the AGSN (Africa Green Store Network – Reséau Grenier Vert d’Afrique). AGSN is a networking forum, which covers more than 30 educational institutions and more than 12 countries. Please inquire on the AGSN website and contact them directly if you have any requests on trainings.
In the years 2022-23, a couple of distance trainings (webinars) for advisors and consultants in the field of solar irrigation were implemented. The series of trainings covered the five most important expert-tools (in version 4) – up to 40 participants per session were trained with various methods and by different trainers. Find here the Curricula in Powerpoint for the six webinars:
Webinar I «Expert»
Introduction & Farm Analysis
Powerpoint
Participants get familiar with all components of the SPIS toolbox and know where to find them (Tools, Manual and Country Case Cards, E-Learning course, YouTube channel (Screencasts, Hands-on Videos…).
Participants learn about what is needed to complete the course successfully and how to get a certificate in the end: participation in discussions, homework between the sessions, presentation, and a final test.
Webinar II «Expert»
Water Requirement
Powerpoint
Participants know components of SPIS (through a BINGO game), know the approach of group-work in a virtual environment and are familiar with polls.
Participants are familiar with the Water Requirement Tool and know how to determine the water requirement of different crops at a certain site.
Webinar III «Expert»
Pump Sizing
Powerpoint
Participants know the characteristics of different types of pumps and how they work, emphasis on centrifugal pumps. They are familiar with the Pump Sizing Tool and how to use it to determine pump type and size.
Webinar IV «Expert»
Irrigation & Soil
Powerpoint
Webinar V «Expert»
Payback
Powerpoint
Participants are aware of the financial aspects of a SPIS and can compare life cycle costs for Diesel powered pumps, grid electricity pumps with solar powered pumps and determine the break-even point of the different approaches.
Participants are familiar with the Payback tool and know how to apply it.
Webinar VI «Expert»
SPIS-Training
Powerpoint
Participants know about opportunities and challenges in implementing solar powered irrigation. They are aware of the success factors and know what can be learned from failures.
In a recording of a webinar meeting of February 5th, 2019, Mr. Ralph Steubing gives some information about the work of the company ICL which is specialized on the mining of fertilizer substances and (among others) the manufacturing of water-soluble fertilizer products, which can be integrated into an irrigation system. In the second part of the webinar, Mr. Steubing gives us some basic background information about soil chemistry. It is essential to know more about soil conditions and the demands of the crops in order to apply the correct fertilizer substances and the correct amount and thus not to waste money and to protect the environment!
In another recording of a interview of 31. January 2019, Mr. Boniface M Muthusi from Kenya is with us. He works at «Juhudi Kilimo», a microfinance institution as a Chief Credit & Risk Officer. He tells us a bit about his work in general, and what his criteria for granting a loan for financing Solar Powered Irrigation Systems to rural smallholder farmers are.
Webinar
Fertigation
In this recording of a webinar meeting of February 5th, 2019, Mr. Ralph Steubing gives some information about the work of the company ICL which is specialized on the mining of fertilizer substances and (among others) the manufacturing of water-soluble fertilizer products, which can be integrated into an irrigation system. In the second part of the webinar, Mr. Steubing gives us some basic background information about soil chemistry. It is essential to know more about soil conditions and the demands of the crops in order to apply the correct fertilizer substances and the correct amount and thus not to waste money and to protect the environment!
This webinar is part of the e-Learning course on «Solar Powered Irrigation Systems» and has been produced by the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences on behalf of GIZ, the German Development Agency.
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TIMING
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01:17 – Personal Introduction Ralph Steubing
01:45 – Introducing ICL
04:15 – Question 1: Feeding methods for application of fertilizer
14:25 – Question 2: Apply fertilizer into a SPIS by a small-scale farmer in Africa
18:30 – Question 3: Right amount of a fertilizer mix at a certain crop stage
27:10 – Question 4: Measurements, checks of soil and leafs
32:15 – Question 5: How to improve your fertilizing system
37:32 – Contact information Ralph Steubing & ICL
Interview
Financing Agriculture
In this recording of a Webinar meeting of 31. January 2019, Mr. Boniface M Muthusi from Kenya is with us. He works at «Juhudi Kilimo», a microfinance institution as a Chief Credit & Risk Officer. He tells us a bit about his work in general, and what his criteria for granting a loan for financing Solar Powered Irrigation Systems to rural smallholder farmers are.
In the first part of webinar, Boniface will shortly present his work. In the second part, we had the opportunity to ask him some questions.
This webinar is part of the e-Learning course on «Solar Powered Irrigation Systems» and has been produced by the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences on behalf of GIZ, the German Development Agency.
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TIMING:
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01:13 – Personal Introduction Boniface Muthusi
02:20 – Presentation on Juhudi Kilimo
09:08 – Question 1: Background of Microfinance
11:15 – Question 2: Risk factors in financing agriculture
15:50 – Question 3: How works financing a SPIS in detail?
17:47 – Question 4: Advices for Farmers seeking loans
20:45 – Contact information Boniface Muthusi & Juhudi Kilimo
Between 2018 and 2022, various e-Learning courses «Solar Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS)» took place to introduce the five most prominent SPIS-Excel tools (Version 4). The course was designed to give profound background information to advisors, service providers and practitioners in the field of solar irrigation to provide broad hands-on guidance to end-users, policy-makers and financiers. Click to the image to proceed to the course which is available in English, French and Arabic. Username is: spis-toolbox | Password: pass
These Screencasts explain the use of five selected Excel-Tools provided by GIZ and FAO. The screencasts refer to the outdated version 4 of the sheets – however, some of the explanations might be quite useful!
Sceencast Safeguard Water
Water Requirement
This Screencast explains the use of the «Water Requirement Tool» in version 4.
This tool serves to calculate the water requirement for crops and livestock depending on their geographic position and the rainfall patterns at the location of the planned Solar-Powered Irrigation System.
This screencast describes these steps:
00:59 Geographic Data
01:49 Crop Water Requirement
04:30 Livestock Water Requirement
05:41 Summary
06:22 How This Tool Works
Screencast Invest
Farm Analysis
This Screencast explains the use of the «Farm Analysis Tool» in version 4.
The tool allows for assessment on farm productivity through its average annual agricultural production.
The tool is useful for establishing a baseline or to assess the impact of planned investments.
It allows supporting a farm enterprise towards identifying unnecessary costs, determine best value agricultural activities and correctly monetize different farm inputs.
The Screencast describes these steps:
00:25 Read-me
01:12 Country Case Card Kenya
01:39 General Information
03:01 Equipment & Assets
04:21 Income «Crops & Livestock»
05:40 Other Income
05:51 Financing
06:36 Fixed & Variable Costs
09:14 Farm Income Statement
10:15 Crop Price Calculator
10:36 Quick Check
Screencast Invest
Payback
This Screencast explains the use of the «Payback Tool» in version 4..
This tool allows for a comparative assessment between income and three different irrigation pumping options, namely solar, diesel and grid connection. Information required for using this tool includes investment and operational costs for the different pumping systems, anticipated income from agricultural production and basic economic conditions.
The Screencast describes these parts:
00:35 Read-me
01:25 Input «Basic Assumptions»
02:54 Input «Solar Powered Irrigation Systems»
03:32 Input «Grid (Electricity) Powered»
04:21 Input «Diesel Powered»
05:25 Output Analysis
06:03 Output Results of the three Options
06:37 Output Graph: System Costs after the first 10 years
07:12 Output Graph: System Costs after the first 25 years
Sceencast Design
Pump Sizing
This Screencast explains the use of the «Pump Sizing Tool» in version 4.
This tool allows you to calculate the pumping head, the required solar PV module capacity and helps you to select suitable pump technologies. You will need data from other parts of the Toolbox, especially the Site Data Collection Tool, the Farm Analysis Tool and the Water Requirement Tool.
The Screencast discusses these topics:
00:44 Readme
01:24 Input: «Head Calculation»
05:10 Input: «Pump Pressure Loss»
05:44 Input: «Irrigation Pressure Loss»
07:08 Output: «Results»
Screencast Irrigate
Soil
This Screencast explains the use of the «Soil Tool» in version 4.
This tool serves to determine your soil profile and to find an irrigation schedule for a selected crop. It complements the Water Requirement Tool, where crop water requirements were determined.
The Screencast describes these parts:
00:29 Read-me
00:50 Geograpic Data
01:31 Soil Texture Calculator
03:04 Irrigation Schedule
04:07 Irrigation Amount and Routine
05:32 Summary
05:45 How this Tool Works
06:04 Crop Information
