By Boluwatife Adedokun
For many Nigerian farmers, the end of the rainy season also means the end of regular access to water. Crops that depend on rainfall begin to face dry spells, while farmers who want to continue production must find another way to get water to their fields.
Irrigation provides one answer, but for smallholder farmers, the technology has to be affordable, easy to operate and suitable for the size of the farm. From simple drip systems to solar-powered pumps, newer irrigation options are giving farmers alternatives to depending entirely on rainfall or spending heavily on petrol and diesel.
Recent research and field programmes in Nigeria show that irrigation is increasingly being treated not only as a dry-season farming tool, but as a way of helping farmers cope with unpredictable rainfall and rising energy costs.
Why rainfall alone is becoming harder to depend on
Rain-fed agriculture remains central to food production in Nigeria, but changing rainfall patterns are making farming decisions more difficult. According to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), only about 5.4 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural plots are irrigated, leaving millions of farmers dependent on rainfall.
IWMI also reports that solar-powered irrigation systems can reduce operational costs by about 60 to 80 per cent compared with diesel-powered alternatives. The organisation says Nigeria has substantial potential for small-scale irrigation, particularly in areas where groundwater is accessible but farmers lack affordable energy for pumping.
For a farmer growing tomatoes, pepper, vegetables or other crops with a short production cycle, the ability to supply water when rainfall is insufficient can make the difference between maintaining production and losing a crop.
Drip irrigation can make every drop count
Irrigation does not always mean flooding a farm with water. Drip irrigation uses pipes or drip lines to deliver water gradually around the root zone of crops.
This can be particularly useful for vegetable farmers working on relatively small plots because water is directed towards the crops instead of being spread across the entire field.
Researchers at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta have also worked on a low-tech drip irrigation system designed specifically for rural farmers. The project uses readily available, low-cost and serviceable materials, with field demonstrations showing its potential for more efficient water management.
That kind of approach is important because an irrigation system that is technically impressive but too expensive or difficult to repair may not be useful to the farmer who needs it most.
Solar pumps are changing the energy equation
Water is only one part of irrigation. Farmers also need energy to move water from a well, borehole, river or other source to the farm.
For years, petrol and diesel-powered pumps have been widely used for this purpose. But the cost of fuel and frequent maintenance can make irrigation expensive, particularly when farmers have to pump water regularly.
Solar-powered pumps offer another option. In 2025, the HortiNigeria programme reported the use of solar irrigation pumps among farmers in Oyo and Ogun states, where farmers were being introduced to solar-powered systems alongside efficient water management practices.
The programme reported that more than 2,000 farmers in Ogun and Oyo had been exposed to its solar irrigation demonstrations by the end of 2024, including training on drip systems and efficient water use. Its lessons from the pilot also showed the importance of demonstrating the technology directly to farmers rather than simply telling them about it.
This matters because adoption is not only about whether a technology exists. Farmers need to see how it works, understand the maintenance requirements and know whether it makes economic sense for their own farms.
The technology can reduce costs, but the price of entry matters
The biggest question for many smallholder farmers is not whether solar irrigation works. It is whether they can afford to acquire it.
A 2026 investment plan for solar-based irrigation in Nigeria, based on a survey of 579 households in Kebbi, Kano and Kaduna, estimated a fixed solar-based irrigation package for a typical one-acre command area at about ₦600,000, while a mobile option with a cart was estimated at around ₦1 million.
The same analysis found that under profit-sharing financing assumptions, the fixed system could have a payback period of roughly 1.4 to 2.1 years, although the actual economics will depend on the farm, crop, water source, equipment and financing arrangement.
For a farmer who cannot raise hundreds of thousands of naira upfront, however, even a system that eventually saves money may remain out of reach.
This is why financing is becoming an important part of the irrigation conversation.
Farmers may not need to own the entire system
One possible solution is moving away from the idea that every farmer must purchase an entire irrigation system individually.
In January 2025, Heifer Nigeria launched a financing scheme in Ogun State to help smallholder farmers access solar-powered irrigation pumps through a finance leasing guarantee arrangement.
Such models can reduce the initial financial burden by allowing farmers to access equipment through structured payments rather than paying the full cost at once.
Other approaches include farmer cooperatives purchasing systems collectively, irrigation service providers charging farmers based on the amount of water supplied, and shared community systems serving several farms.
The International Food Policy Research Institute has also warned that subsidies alone may not solve the problem of smallholder irrigation adoption. Its 2026 analysis identified other barriers, including access to water, information gaps and weaknesses in supply chains and technical support.
Water access still comes first
A solar pump cannot solve an irrigation problem if there is no reliable water source.
Farmers considering irrigation therefore need to first determine where their water will come from, how much water the crops require and whether the source can sustain production without causing environmental problems.
The Nigerian government’s 2026 agriculture and food-system investment plan includes measures to expand access to irrigation, promote small-scale irrigation, rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation, as well as increase the use of motorised and solar-powered boreholes.
The plan also recognises the need to expand irrigated farmland and improve farmers’ access to affordable technologies and inputs.
For farmers, however, government plans will only become useful when the equipment, financing and technical support actually reach farming communities.
Choosing technology based on the farm, not the hype
There is no single irrigation technology that will work for every Nigerian farmer.
A vegetable farmer cultivating a small plot near a shallow water source may need a different system from a rice farmer operating several hectares. A farmer in Ogun may have different water and energy conditions from one in Kano or Kebbi.
Farmers should therefore consider the size of the farm, crop type, water source, distance between the water source and field, available energy, maintenance requirements and expected income before purchasing equipment.
A cheap pump that breaks down regularly may eventually cost more than a properly sized system. Similarly, a large solar installation may not make economic sense for a farmer whose water requirements are small.
The technology should fit the farm, rather than forcing the farm to fit the technology.
The next step is making irrigation accessible
Nigeria’s irrigation challenge is no longer simply about finding technologies that can move water. Solar pumps, drip systems and other small-scale irrigation options already exist and are being tested and used in different parts of the country.
The bigger challenge is making these technologies affordable and practical for the farmers who need them.
That means accessible financing, reliable equipment, local technicians, farmer training and clear information about water requirements. It also means designing systems around the realities of small farms rather than assuming every farmer has the capital to make a large upfront investment.
For farmers facing a longer or less predictable dry period, irrigation can provide a way to keep producing when the rain stops. But the real measure of an irrigation technology is not how advanced it looks. It is whether a farmer can afford it, operate it, maintain it and still make money from the farm.
