Skip to main content
Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy

Supporting policy with scientific evidence

We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.

  • Publication | 2022

Policy Brief: Energy solutions for irrigation in Ethiopia

Global Food and Nutrition Security

The policy brief presents a short summary of a study from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that used an integrated irrigation-energy planning framework to identify groundwater irrigation development potentials in Ethiopia under three energy solutions: grid-connected electricity, off-grid solar PV, and diesel.

Key messages and recommendations

  • The relative cost-effectiveness of each energy solution compared to the other energy solutions differs by crop type and location.

  • On-grid electricity is the most cost-effective energy solution in areas close to the electricity transmission network, while among the two off-grid energy solutions (solar PV and diesel), solar PV has advantage in the north and in eastern lowlands.

  • There is potential to add about 1.1 million hectares of groundwater irrigated area in Ethiopia.

  • For about 25 percent of this potential (0.26 million hectares), solar irrigation is the most cost efficient, while on-grid electricity is the most cost efficient for about 43 percent of the potential (0.46 million hectares). Diesel is the most cost efficient of the three energy options for about 32 percent of the potential (0.34 million hectares).

  • An energy policy reform that removes subsidies on fossil fuels will help promote the use of irrigation systems powered by solar PV significantly.

  • Government and other stakeholders need to promote adoption of irrigation technologies based on solar, electricity, and grid, with consideration on the type of energy most cost effective for the location and the crop to be irrigated.