This was the strong message that Prof. Eng. Bancy Mati, the Director WARREC enunciated on during her presentation in the 5th UNESCO Africa Engineering Week held at PrideInn Hotel, Mombasa from 17th – 21st September 2018. The event also doubled up as the 3rd Africa Engineering Conference & the 25th IEK International Conference. On her keynote presentation paper entitled “Innovations in Solar Water Pumping Systems: Taking Kenya’s Development to the Next Level  during the workshop opening  on Monday, 17th September 2018, Prof. Mati articulated on a wide range of issues impacting on solar water pumping,… Continue reading →

  Although irrigation in Africa has the potential to boost agricultural productivities by at least 50 percent, food production on the continent is almost entirely rainfed. Africa has 65% of the world’s uncultivated arable land but produces only 15% of global agricultural output. Smallholder farms produce on average 50% less output per acre than their global counterparts. The area equipped for irrigation, currently slightly more than 13 million hectares, makes up just 6 percent of the total cultivated area. There is a great irrigation potential in Africa that need to be unlocked by use of… Continue reading →

While agriculture is the backbone of Kenya’s economy accounting for about 60 percent of total employment, farmers still continue to grapple with myriad challenges that negate agricultural productivity. For farmers in Meru, extreme weather conditions is a notable hindrance; a condition that has driven growers to adapt small scale irrigation techniques to boost production. The approach that has been practiced in Meru for over three decades has had a toll on the streams in the county forcing farmers to turn to scientists to find sustainable solutions to improve the efficiency of irrigation and precision farming… Continue reading →