Developed for the Transforming Investments in African Rainfed Agriculture (TIARA) initiative, this report explains the importance of green water and establishes the business case for investing in rainfed agriculture in Africa at scale.

The report begins with an overview of the challenges on agricultural systems to make more food available and accessible and lays out the potential of irrigation to make agriculture more productive, efficient and profitable for smallholder farmers.

This paper reviews the evidence available on the provision of financing for African smallholder farmers to purchase irrigation equipment such as pumps, pipes and drip irrigation systems. It sets the scene by first reviewing the literature on experiences with providing microcredit and other microfinance services as a poverty reduction strategy.

This report takes stock of the experiences with solar powered irrigation systems (SPIS) around the world. What are the real costs and benefits of SPIS compared with other technologies? What rules, regulations and policies are needed to manage the risks and realize the potential of such systems? What are viable business models?