While more than 90% of Africa’s agriculture is rain-fed, farmers are facing increasing rainfall variability due to climate change. The 2019 Inspire Challenge project, “Real time East Africa live groundwater use base” aims to help countries manage their water resources more efficiently, from harvesting rainwater to maintaining aquifers, or underground water basins.

“We want to make it available for the good of the sector – for those advocating solar irrigation and those working to ensure sustainable water use,” says Toby Hammond, managing director of Futurepump.

The CGIAR partner, the International Water Management Institute, plans to use the data from Futurepump’s 4,000 pumps to calculate how much water is being extracted at any given time, which can help governments ensure it is used sustainably, with limits on extraction or a shift to less water-intensive crops.