This report assesses the potential of solar photovoltaic (PV) irrigation for smallholder agriculture in Ghana, using elements of business planning and business models with a suitability mapping approach. These approaches take into account the economic as well as environmental sustainability of expanding such technology.

Agricultural innovation scaling approaches tend to be empirical but do not sufficiently take into account the complex realities of ‘softer elements’ such as people, supply chains, markets, financing mechanisms, policies and regulations, professional knowledge, power relations, incentives and history.

Smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) number around 33 million, represent 80% of all farms in the region, and contribute up to 90% of food production in some SSA countries (Wiggins and Keats, 2013). Smallholder farmers face multiple challenges.