Supporting market-led importation of small-scale irrigation equipment in West and Central Africa

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1 Secretary of the HIPPO Foundation, De Verwondering 27, 3823HA Amersfoort, The Netherlands, Tel./Fax. +31.33.4553623,

e-mail [email protected], www.hipponet.nl

Annex I

Supporting market-led importation of small-scale irrigation

equipment in West and Central Africa

Sjon van’t Hof 1, Netherlands

Contents

Introduction 2

Small-scale irrigation: definition and statistics 3

The import service market for small-scale irrigation equipment in West Africa 4

Supporting market-led importation of small-scale irrigation equipment 6

Ten guiding principles for the marketing of affordable irrigation devices 7

Conclusion and recommendations 10

References 12

Internet resources 14

List of Tables and Boxes

Table I–1 Area under small-scale and traditional irrigation in 3West and Central Africa (ARID mandate area) in 1985

Box I–1 A simple decision tree for supporting equipment\import 7

service projects (after Drew, 2000)

Box I–2 Framework for import promotion 9



Appropriate water-lifting technologies in West Africa – Annex I

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Abstract: The scope and methods used to promote the importation of irrigation equipment

from India and China to West and Central Africa are discussed. The emphasis is on diesel-

powered pumpsets for low-lift irrigation of the type practiced along Sahelian rivers or certainartificial lakes. Subjects include: (1) the import service market for irrigation pumps in West

Africa; (2) characteristics of Asian equipment; (3) export prices, cost prices and selling prices;

(4) supporting market-led importation initiatives; and (5) marketing principles. A framework

for promoting the importation of irrigation equipment is outlined.

Résumé: Les perspectives et les méthodes pour promouvoir l’importation de matériel

d’irrigation de l’Inde et de la Chine en Afrique Centrale et Occidentale sont examinées.

L’accent est mis sur les motopompes à gas-oil pour le pompage à faible pression du type

pratiqué le long des fleuves Sahéliens ou certains lacs artificiels. Les sujets incluent: (1) le

marché des services d’importation pour les pompes d’irrigation; (2) les caractéristiques de

matériel asiatique; (3) les prix à l’exportation, prix d’achat et prix de vente; (4) le soutiendes initiatives d’importation commerciales; et (5) les principes de commercialisation. Des

recommandations pour favoriser l’importation de matériel d’irrigation sont fournies.

INTRODUCTION

Small-scale irrigation development in West Africa is partly the result of a spontaneous

process and partly the result of development efforts by governments, NGOs and international

organizations. The most successful small-scale irrigation farms are those that developed from

farmers’ initiatives (De Lange, 1997). The rate of small-scale irrigation expansion is slow and

irregular, considering the need, potential and effort. Much that had been developed was notsustainable, socially or economically. This represents a tremendous waste of personal effort

and financial resources. The reasons for non-sustainability are many, varied and complex. Any

West-African irrigation farmer will confirm that one reason is the high investment and running

cost of irrigation equipment, especially pumpsets.

Considering that the cost of irrigation equipment is lower in Asia than anywhere else, there

is scope for stimulating the importation of this equipment to countries, where it is unavailable

or if available the cost of its use is higher than necessary. There are two Asian countries with

extremely large numbers of small-scale, locally managed irrigation systems: China with

over six million systems and India with an estimated 400 000 systems (Mabry, 1993). Bom

and Van Steenbergen (1997) estimate the number of diesel pumpsets in India at 6.5 million.

Both countries have a buoyant domestic industry producing irrigation equipment at highlycompetitive prices. Other countries with competitive domestic industries are Brazil, Indonesia,

Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey. However, a technology that has been proven in one

country may still be viewed as ‘too risky’ in another. Thus, the technology transfer process

may require additional resources for management.

In this presentation, the aim is to discuss the scope and methods of promoting the importation

of irrigation equipment from India and China. The emphasis is on diesel-powered pumpsets for

low-lift irrigation (FAO, 1996) of the type practiced along Sahelian rivers, such as the rivers

Senegal, Niger, Logone and Chari in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and

Chad or along the shores of artificial lakes, such as the Sourou Valley project in Burkina Faso

(Jeune Afrique, 1998).




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SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION: DEFINITION AND STATISTICS

There is no widely accepted definition of small-scale irrigation in terms of area irrigated or otherwise. Uphoff (1986, in Mabry, 1993) found that irrigation systems with command areas

of 40 ha or less tend to be managed by the entire group of irrigators, while systems between

40 and 400 ha are usually administered by a central official, either elected by the irrigators or

appointed by the state. In exceptional cases, the number of people that can be supported by

systems managed by local assemblies or councils can be as high as 5 000. Provisionally, a

multi-criteria definition of small-scale lift irrigation will be used: (1) the command area must

be less than 40 ha; (2) the average area per irrigator is less than 10 ha; and (3) management is

by the entire group of irrigators.

The term micro-irrigation has been used by some (Norman, 1993) for individuals or small

groups using 3–5 hp gasoline pumps to irrigate less than 1 ha of vegetables. Other terms

include: traditional irrigation, village irrigation, community-based irrigation, local irrigation,smallholder irrigation and indigenous irrigation. In many cases, traditional irrigation includes

flood irrigation, recession agriculture and a variety of mixed or partial control systems, such

as spate irrigation.

Without an accepted definition of small-scale irrigation, there can be no reliable statistics

on small-scale irrigation. Estimates of irrigated areas under small-scale or traditional irrigation

in the mandate area of the Regional Association on Irrigation and Drainage in West and Central

Africa (French acronym: ARID) are presented In Table I–1 (Rukuni 1997). The total area

under small-scale or traditional irrigation in the ARID mandate area is 1.2 million ha, of which

two-thirds are in Nigeria.

Table I–1 Area under small-scale and traditional irrigation in West and Central Africa(ARID mandate area) in 1985

Country Small-scale or traditional

irrigation in hectares

Benin 10 000

Burkina Faso 20 000

Cameroon 9 000

Cape Verde NA

Central African Republic 4 000

Chad 40 000

Congo 5 000

Equatorial Guinea NA

Gabon 1 000

Gambia 20 000

Ghana 5 000

Guinea 30 000

Guinea Bissau NA

Cote d’Ivoire 10 000

Liberia 16 000

Mali 60 000

Mauritania 20 000

Niger 20 000

Nigeria 800 000

Sao Tome NA

Senegal 70 000

Sierra Leone 50 000

Togo 10 000

NA Not applicable




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THE IMPORT SERVICE MARKET FOR SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION

EQUIPMENT IN WEST AFRICA

If the average area under lift irrigation in West and Central Africa is cautiously estimated at

25 percent of the total area under small-scale and traditional irrigation, i.e. 300 000 ha, and

if the average area per unit is 5 ha, the total number of units is around 60 000. Assuming an

average life span of six years, it can be estimated that about 10 000 units must be imported

per year, representing an annual turnover in the order of US$25 million. This corresponds to

an equipment cost of roughly US$500/ha, which seems to be about right as an average value

between European imports of makes, such as Hatz and Lister-Petter, and Asian imports from

India and China. For low-lift irrigation, the challenge is to shift this value towards US$100/ha,

while maintaining ordinary equipment life.

Whether or not this aggregate sales volume is sufficient for the development of a dynamic

import service market will depend on a number of factors: (1) size of the country; (2) number of different types and sizes of pumps; (3) number of importers and their dynamism; (4) access to

information; (5) geographic location (landlocked or not) and infrastructure; (6) overt or hidden

government policies to limit competition from abroad; (7) overt or hidden strategies of major

development agencies involved in small-scale irrigation development. There are indications

that the import service market for small pumpsets is competitive in some countries. In Niger,

prices of 3–5 hp 4-stroke Honda, Yamaha and Robin are no higher than in Europe. However,

demand is not limited to these small units and margins can be quite high in Europe. From 5 hp

upward, diesel becomes an interesting proposition and national markets seem to differ in their

response to this demand.

Generally, French-speaking Africa is strongly oriented to metropolitan France, where

many businesses serve the West African market, using existing trade networks. For manyinternationally operating, non-French companies, the representation for West Africa is in

Paris, an indication of weak and fragmented African markets. The factor-ten price difference

between European and Asian equipment is reason enough to put the efficiency of existing

marketing arrangements to the test.

The introduction of diesel-powered equipment of Asian origin in West Africa would be

much easier, if it were better represented in Europe and in France in particular. Why this is not

the case is hard to say. Maybe it is hard to sell, because it is too heavy or too noisy. Another

problem is that the system of sole representation is meaningless, because many factories

produce the same equipment. Meanwhile European manufacturers produce equipment in

Asia under their own name and sell it at normal prices in Europe. Nevertheless, some Asian

equipment is sold in the USA, Canada and Australia, and in eastern and southern Africa, because of historical connections with India.

Over the past few years, the author made a number of short visits to Burkina Faso, Ghana,

Mali, Mauritania and Niger. There was Chinese or Indian equipment in all these countries.

Therefore, the importation of Asian equipment to West Africa is no longer hypothetical, but

is still in its infancy. After-sales service for spare part availability and repair or maintenance

capacity is poor. One example is the main distributor of spare parts in a country where there

were 500 units of one type of engine. The distributor: (1) could not show a single spare

part (but he knew where to get them); (2) was not aware of a major regional distributor in a

neighbouring country; (3) did not have a spare part catalogue; and (4) the prices quoted for

spare parts were ten times higher than in the country of origin, making it almost cheaper to

import a new engine than to repair it. Furthermore, there did not seem to be any knowledge




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of the different pumps that could be fitted with this particular type of engine to suit different

pumping conditions. Another example is of somebody who had imported a container of engines

with hopper cooling. He liked the engine very much, because it was easy to repair, but he didnot understand why he had to top up water every 10 to 20 minutes. Apparently, he was not

aware of the five different cooling options available for this type of engine.

Particularities of Asian equipment

Chinese and Indian equipment differs in a number of respects from present-day Western

equipment: it is old fashioned, heavy, made of cast iron, relatively low speed and repair is

simple and cheap. There are dozens or hundreds of companies churning out vast numbers

of the same limited range of models, so competition is ensured. Although old fashioned, the

equipment is not necessarily less energy efficient. In most cases, no licenses are required

for its production. None, or few, changes are made to the original design, so there are no

development costs. The costs of raw material and labour in China and India are very low.

Irrigation development is extremely important in both countries. Large numbers of equipment

are made for the largest homogeneous home markets in the world and little or no marketing

effort is made. Hence, the cost of the equipment is very low.

Profit margins on Indian and Chinese equipment are very low. As the incentive is for

foreign exchange rather than profit and considering that the equipment is not unique, it cannot

be expected that manufacturers will invest much in overseas sales or after-sales service. This

disadvantage is not unqualified: it means that competition is ensured at cutthroat prices. It

also means that after-sales service will have to be ensured by the importer or by the end-user.

This is not necessarily very difficult or expensive, provided there is a contact in the country of

origin to provide an airfreight spare-parts supply service. Besides, several years of spare-part

requirements can be supplied with the original equipment at low cost.

Millions of units of some models have been sold in the home countries. Probably, sales of

these models will continue for decades to come. This means that the main models, and with

them the investments in training to maintain them, will not become obsolete before 2025.

Because they often have prechamber ignition, they are more likely to be able to run on bio-

diesel than their modern European counterparts are.

Export prices of Asian equipment

Sundaram (1997) quotes prices for Indian, single and double cylinder, water and air-cooled

diesel engines of 5 to 15 hp. The average price for a water-cooled 7.5 hp 1 500 rpm engine

works out at US$480 in Durban (South Africa). The models mentioned by Sundaram can be

seen on various web sites (see the section Internet resources at the end).

Arby and Van’t Hof (2000) mention an 8 hp 1 800 rpm engine with a 60 l/s low-pressure

pump for the price of US$750 FOB Bombay. The complete pumpset, including discharge hoses

and suction-side accessories, cost about US$4 000 by the time it reached Timbuktu, Mali,

including custom duties and inland transport from Dakar via Bamako to Timbuktu. After having

used the pumpset for two seasons (2 000 hours) to irrigate 14 ha of wet rice along the river

Niger, it was decided to purchase all the spare parts necessary for a complete engine overhaul,

including cylinder lining and piston. They cost US$125 + US$175 for airfreight to Bamako.

This is 30 percent of the price mentioned in Burkina Faso (personal observation, 2001).




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The prices of Chinese equipment are roughly similar. Up to about 15 hp, there are three

main series of diesel engines: F, R and S. The smallest is the air-cooled F-series. A typical

representative is the 170F of 4 hp. It costs US$120 FOB Chinese port. The water-cooled R series is next in line and is represented by the R180 of 8 hp maximum. Next is the water-cooled

S series. The original model, which continues to be in high demand, is the S195 of about 12 hp

at 2 000 rpm. It costs about US$205 FOB Chinese port. Popular, more powerful versions are

the S1100 and S1110. The standard versions of the water-cooled engines have hopper cooling.

Other cooling systems are thermosyphon, through-flow, radiator and condensation cooling.

Increasingly, Western engine manufacturers are establishing alliances in Asia: Lombardini

is produced in India by Greaves, Hatz in Turkey by Pancar and Yanmar in China by Kama,

Changfa and Swan. As a result, cheap modern engines become available for affordable

pumpsets, using local pumps. For example, in September 2000, a 25 l/s, 8 HMT Wuxi pump

of 4-inch (4HBC-35) and powered by a modern 4 hp air-cooled Changfa engine (identical to

the L48AE of Yanmar) was offered for US$363 FOB Shanghai, including some spare partsand suction and discharge-side accessories, such as an efficient 5-inch foot valve. This is

one example to show that there is no lack of affordable, low-lift and very low-lift pumping

equipment in India and China (for other examples, see Van’t Hof, 2000).

The price of Asian equipment in West Africa

Marketing efficiency in Africa is low. Prices of equipment are higher there than anywhere else

in the world. This does not bother the urban elite (Rukuni, 1997). The high prices are normally

explained by high transport and high transaction costs, corruption of customs officials, and

the get-rich-quick attitude of importers. None of these reasons is beyond human influence.

Customs officials can be controlled by good government, the importers can be controlled by

empowering the end-users, transaction costs can be controlled by organizing the marketing

chain, and transport costs can be minimized by larger orders. For a full container load, each

10 hp Indian pumpset costs US$440 (C&F Bamako), but the importation of a single unit will

cost US$800.

A pumpset is more than an engine and a pump mounted on a chassis. Attention should be

paid to the cost of completing pumpsets with discharge hoses, suction pipes and foot-valves.

An efficient 200 mm foot valve can cost US$500 and 50 m of lay flat pipe may cost more

than US$1 000. This is without profit margin, transport and so on. Clearly, the additional costs

of auxiliary equipment can easily render seemingly affordable equipment too expensive for

small-scale irrigation farmers. On the other hand, there is tremendous scope for controlling

costs: the highly efficient US$500 cast-iron foot valve is produced for US$25 in Taiwan, andhigh-quality lay flat pipe is available at a fraction of the normal price in Australia.

SUPPORTING MARKET-LED IMPORTATION OF SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION

EQUIPMENT

If the equipment import service market is weak, and provided the political and economic

preconditions for small-scale irrigation development in a country are met, it makes sense to

stimulate the links between domestic importers and foreign producers.




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Box I–1 A simple decision tree for supporting equipment import service projects

(after Drew, 2000)

1. How are the economic policies?1.1. Bad: carry out policy reform

1.2. Good: go to 2

2. How developed is the equipment import service market?

2.1. Dynamic? Do nothing.

2.2. Weak? Go to 3

3. Stimulate links between domestic importers and foreign producers.

For a variety of reasons, the importation of Asian irrigation equipment is still in its infancy.

Since the late 1980s, there has been increasing interest in the development of the private sector,

because it was realized that support given to this area provides long-term, sustainable benefits.

Contrary to the equipment import sector, there has been some experience in the market-led

promotion of post-harvest enterprises (Cutler, 1993, and Drew, 2000). Organizations, such asthe Agribusiness Development Centre in Uganda or Rural Investment Overseas Limited in the

United Kingdom were set up to undertake feasibility studies at the request of a promoter or

international development institutions, to assist in the raising of the necessary finance, and, if

appropriate, to be involved in the management of the enterprise.

Establishing any new enterprise is difficult, particularly in developing countries. Cutler

emphasizes that the promoter is the most important factor in the long-term success of the

project. Clients need to be selected carefully. Drew insists on the need for an objective screening

mechanism, monitoring performance closely, and the readiness to terminate any operation.

Other factors that need to be considered when looking at a new or expanding business include:

(1) project planning and investment; (2) product; (3) market and competition; (4) freight and

documentation; (5) technology; and (6) management and training.Importing equipment is not very difficult, so promoters or clients should not be limited

to conventional importers, but could well include other actors in small-scale irrigation

development, such as a director of a cooperative farmers’ association, or organizations with

a long-term interest in the importation or maintenance of affordable small-scale irrigation

equipment. Cutler (1993) says that the ideal promoter must meet the following requirements:

(1) strong and dedicated; (2) honest and realistic; (3) adequate financial resources; (4) must

understand that fast and clear communication is essential; (5) must be a good manager who

understands when to employ specialist staff and management; and (6) must have good

knowledge of the industry and people involved.

TEN GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE MARKETING OF AFFORDABLE

IRRIGATION DEVICES

Egan (2000) describes the ten principles for the successful mass-marketing programme for

treadle pumps and identifies seven constraints, including NGO paternalism, donor ambivalence

to the market approach, and the quick-buck attitude of the private sector. An attempt will be

made here to examine if and how a programme to support market-led importation of small-

scale irrigation equipment could follow these ten principles:

1. Make equipment affordable. Egan estimates that a rural household cannot invest morethan US$50. With some effort, it seems possible to import a complete pumpset from




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India and China for about US$2 500 to irrigate 20 ha along a river or a lakeshore. This

means that 50 households will have to pool resources to buy a single pumping unit. An

alternative to selling equipment is renting it.2. Sell to individual farmers. Indeed, this would be ideal, but only rich or well-connected

farmers will be able to do this. However, no single farmer can carry out all the work

involved in growing 10 or 20 ha of wet rice, so mechanized low-lift pumping is an

obvious group activity. Rental of equipment to groups has met with few difficulties in

the Timbuktu area of Mali. Egan’s treadle pump, on the other hand, is an individual

piece of equipment par excellence.

3. Do not give subsidies. It is not easy to compare different experiences, but it seems

safe to say that subsidies, or giving away pumpsets, should be avoided at all costs. In

the case of credit programmes, there should be strict adherence to the principle that

loans should be paid back. It is a well-known fact that the rich take advantage of credit

programmes. Curiously, in some countries, major programmes continue to give awayEuropean pumpsets to groups that have no interest in irrigation whatsoever.

4. Sell a viable product. According to Egan, the pay back of a pump must be less than a

year and product durability should be five times the payback period. Low-lift pumps

along the Niger river in Mali satisfy this criterion easily: the investment cost per

household is US$50 dollars for 0.4 ha. The expected production in the case of wet rice

can be estimated at 0.4 x 4 tonne/ha = 1 600 kg @ US$0.15/kg = US$240 or almost

five times the investment cost. A product durability of 5 000 hours to ensure five years

of lift irrigation seems feasible. Much depends on local maintenance expertise (see 9

below).

5. Use local manufacturers. It is impossible to compete with Asian prices, so this is not

a feasible option in West Africa, with the possible exception of Nigeria. On the other hand, it is possible, although probably not cheaper, to assemble pumpsets locally,

using Asian pumps and engines. There must be more than one importer to avoid lack

of competition.

6. Work with the private sector. This is the essence of a programme supporting market-

led importation of small-scale irrigation equipment.

7. Develop a critical mass. Egan develops this principle from a marketing point of view.

It seems that the principle equally applies to importing equipment to ensure low

transportation costs.

8. Advertise. Besides making the product known, it also creates the image that this is a

class product and not some inferior one.

9. Provide service and maintenance. If the product is guaranteed and service andmaintenance are available, then the farmers become interested and will purchase.

10. Have a coordinating agency.There is a need for an NGO to take the lead to ensure that

the pumps are imported (in the case of treadle pumps: manufactured) and marketed.

A framework for import promotion

Once it is clear that there is a need to promote the importation of small-scale irrigation

equipment, a specialized agency could be mandated to guide the process as outlined in

Box I–2.




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Box I–2 Framework for import promotion

1. Mandate importation support agency;

2. Carry out studies on equipment;

3. Draw up a list of potentially interesting equipment;

4. Short-list equipment to be tested or imported;

5. Determine conditions of use and organize maintenance;

6. Provide importation support;

7. Evaluate results and decide on follow-up; and

8. Scale up importation.

Explanatory notes to Box I–2:

1. After the decision to promote the importation of affordable and efficient small-scale

irrigation equipment, an agency should be mandated to promote importation using a

two-pronged strategy: (1) by encouraging and supporting private importation initiatives

(importers, farmer organizations); and (2) by funding research and extension with

farmers organizations or other organizations involved in supplying or maintaining

irrigation equipment. In the second case, private sector participation can be ensured

by subsidizing the importation of trial equipment.

2. Carry out three interrelated studies on equipment demand, importation and supply of:

• existing equipment and its use in country (field study of between two weeks and

two months; in the case of low-lift pump schemes note the discharge (number of

hectare), static head, and other variables and check how they match equipment

characteristics);• importers and their products (1 or 2 weeks); and

• overseas suppliers and their products (time input depends on prior knowledge,

ambition and required detail);

and the studies will: (a) result in an assessment of the appropriateness of current

equipment; (b) highlight the demand for other equipment by end-users in general and

identify potential participants for on-farm trials in particular; (c) provide an insight

into the perception of importers of alternative supplies; and (d) contribute towards

a body of knowledge on competitive sources of equipment, its characteristics and

qualities. The investment in knowledge on new equipment will require a long-term

effort. Since the need for this type of knowledge is regional rather than national, there

is scope for international cooperation. A regional expert or a team of two experts withcomplementary expertise could carry out preparatory visits to countries, such as China

and India, followed by visits with local agencies’ representatives.

3. Establish a list of potentially interesting equipment.This is a long list of equipment;

where demand in the country has been determined. In some cases, the demand will be for

the substitution of inappropriate equipment for reasons of insufficient affordability or

efficiency. In other cases, there will be scope for importing new types of equipment.

4. Decide on a short-list of equipment to be tested or imported. This will involve:

(1) a pre-assessment of the affordability of the equipment; (2) a decision on whether

to encourage importation directly or to test with farmers organizations; and (3)

coordination with other countries (to avoid duplication). Prioritization should be

carried out with transparent end-user involvement, to avoid marketing difficulties in phase 8 below.




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5. Decide on the conditions of use and the organization of maintenance. A contract could

be established for importation after tendering with different importers. The tendering

document should provide the necessary details. The use of the subsidized equipmentwill be subject to a contract. It may not always be the best way to demand an importer

to maintain an adequate supply of spare parts; initially it is likely to be cheaper and

easier to rely on airfreight for the supply of additional spare-parts. Arrangements to

this effect should be made prior to importation of the equipment (reliable contact in

supplying country + spares list).

6. Provide importation support (see the section on supporting market-led importation

of small-scale irrigation equipment in this article).

7. Evaluate the results and decide on follow-up in terms of affordability (marketing

efficiency, demand) and technology (efficiency, reliability, etc.) and decide on follow-

up: (1) in the case of a positive result of technology research, whether or not to promote

private importation; (2) in the case of private importation, whether more assistancewill be needed; and (3) if there is a need for other equipment to be imported. (Process

re-iterative from here on);

8. Scale-up importation. The main problem of importation is likely to be on the demand

side and something may have to be done to: (1) improve credit supply to end-users in

target groups or encourage the establishment of rental services in the case of relatively

expensive durables, such as pumpsets; (2) ensure that end-users make good use of the

equipment (promote maintenance and repair services); and (3) encourage the donor

community not to introduce its own equipment, but instead involve them at an early

stage to assist in testing and introduction of selected equipment.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

There is considerable scope for the promotion of the importation of diesel-powered pumpsets

for low-lift irrigation from India and China. With the exception of principle 2 (‘sell to individual

farmers’), the same principles that were successfully applied by IDE (Egan, 2000) for mass-

marketing over a million treadle pumps and the market-led approach outlined by Cutler (1993)

and Drew (2000) could be used to stimulate the importation of affordable equipment.

It is recommended that:

1. Existing experiences should be built on with Asian equipment . Examples are the 500

Kirloskar TV–1 pumpsets in Burkina Faso, 50 Chinese Changchai S195N engines in Niger, perhaps more than 1 000 Chinese 170F pumpsets in Mauritania, and possibly

hundreds of Anil and Rhino engines in Mali.

2. Statistical information is collected on small-scale irrigation. Prior to this small-scale

irrigation will have to be defined and classified. Without a clear definition of what

small-scale irrigation is, it will be impossible to collect meaningful statistical data to

assess the medium and long term effectiveness of policies for small-scale irrigation

development.

3. Equipment demonstrations are organized from other developing countries, such as

India and China, as suggested by Zhou Weiping (1997). In some cases, the challenge

lies in technical demonstrations and in demonstrating the commercial and institutional

framework in which the technology can be profitably deployed and replicated.




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4. Investment is made in technical knowledge of Asian equipment for use in training

courses and equipment selection. The write-off period of such investments is likely

to be long, since Asian equipment does not change much. This technical knowledgeshould include maintenance manuals, parts lists, and case studies. Perhaps the South-

South Initiative of the FAO could help. Also, develop training material, including

importation protocols, to overcome the language barrier between French-speaking

importers and English-speaking exporters in India and China. Everything should be

well documented and stored to ensure public access.

5. Initially, market-led equipment import support should be directed to Burkina Faso,

Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. Collect information on about

20 types of equipment and initially select one or two for promotion in each country.

6. The use of Internet and ARID-L is encouraged (ARID’s small-scale irrigation network)

to exchange information. Promote the development of a ‘publish or be damned’ attitude

(Van’t Hof, 2001).7. One-desk importation systems are developed for equipment that is crucial to

development, such as small-scale irrigation pumps. According to some studies, the

barriers at some borders are such that they are the equivalent of thousands of miles of

sea transport.

8. Quality standards are established for the importation of equipment . An important

aspect of quality is pumping efficiency and overall pumping cost as explained in

Van’t Hof (2000a and b) and illustrated with a case study by (Arby and Van’t Hof,

2000). The case study also demonstrates that it is not necessarily expensive to carry

out importation studies. From 1998 to 2001, the GIE Hair Goumo used a shoestring

budget of less than US$5 000 for an independent evaluation of a low-lift pumpset

from India that irrigates 14 ha of wet rice (Arby and Van’t Hof, 2000). This type of initiatives should be encouraged or supported.




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REFERENCES

Arby, D. 1998. Systèmes de Location de Groupes Motopompes dans la Vallée du Fleuve Niger dans la Région de Tombouctou au Nord du Mali http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/HIPPOMP/hari.

htm

Arby, D. & Van ‘t Hof, S. 2000b. Evaluation d’une motopompe Kirloskar TV-1/NW9ME à

Kakondji, Tombouctou, Mali. http://www.hipponet.nl/ressources/kirloskar_abstract.htm

Bom, G.J. & Van Steenbergen, F. 1997. Fuel efficiency and inefficiency in private tubewell

development. Energy for Sustainable Development, 3(5) 46-50 http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/

HIPPOMP/solartec2.html

Cutler, M. 1993. Investment criteria to ensure a successful private sector post-harvest

enterprise.

De Lange, M. 1997. Promotion of low-cost and water saving technologies for small-scale

irrigation. In: http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7314E/w7314e0p.htm

Drew, C. 2000. Researching the marketing chain. In Post-harvest News No. 2, June 2000.

http://www.iita.org/publib/phnews2/ph-mi1.htm

Egan, L.A. 1997. The experiences of IDE in the mass marketing of small-scale affordable

irrigation devices. http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7314E/w7314e0u.htm

FAO. 1996. Successful approaches to water development: low-lift pump schemes; in Technical background documents to the World Food Summit . Rome, Italy. http://www.fao.org/wfs/

final/e/volume2/t07b-e.htm#LOW-LIFT PUMP SCHEMES

FAO. 1997. Irrigation technology transfer in support of food security. Conference proceedings,

pp..191, Harare, Zimbabwe.http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7314E/W7314E00.htm

Gadelle, F. 1998. Optimisation des équipements pour la petite irrigation en Afrique de l’Ouest :

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en irrigation en support à la sécurité alimentaire, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), décembre

1998.

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BID1001.htm

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of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. 119 (5) pp. 880–896.




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Perry, E. 1997. Low-cost irrigation technologies for food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7314E/w7314e0o.htm

Rukuni, M. 1997. Creating an enabling environment for the uptake of low-cost irrigation

equipment of small-scale farmers. http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7314E/w7314e08.htm

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in India.http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7314E/w7314e0r.htm

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getting the process right.

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the availability of affordable pumpsets to African farmers: http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/

HIPPOMP/comparis1.htm#Résumé:

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appropriate equipment selection. http://www.hipponet.nl/ressources/manuel_abstract.htm

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d’Irrigation, Ouagadougou, 23–26 April 2001.

Zhou Weiping. 1997. Review of the irrigation equipment manufacture and supply sector inChina. http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7314E/w7314e0t.htm




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Internet resources

DPS: the characteristics of the HW or HBC/HBG series of mixed-flow pumps from China can be downloaded from: http://www.bit.net.au/~dps/index.htm A price list of low-pressure

lay flat pipe is also included.

FAO: perhaps the South-South initiative of the FAO could assist in some technology transfer aspects

of small-scale irrigation equipment from Asia to Africa, see: http://www.fao.org/spfs/

Gangadhar provides a good overview of Indian engines http://www.cncw.com/gangadhar/g21.

htm

Juling provides an overview of single cylinder engines up to 23 hp: http://www.juling.com/txt/

DIESELENGINE.htm.

Kirloskar is a major producer and exporter of engines and pumps from India, see www.

kirloskars.com

Swan provides a good overview of the smallest Chinese diesel engines, both old and new,

water-cooled and air-cooled. http://www.jc-swan.com/e-product.htm

Wuxi and Tianyi pumps give an idea of the pumps in China, including diesel pumps: http://

www.js.cei.gov.cn/jsmeio98/0200007/ewxsbc_q.htm http://www.tianyipump.com/

products/default.htm.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The support and contributions of Drs Raf Grubben, president of the HIPPO Foundation, are

gratefully acknowledged.

Documents

Supporting market-led importation of small-scale irrigation equipment in West and Central Africa