Power Innovations for Commercial Agriculture (PICA)

The Integrated Water and Agriculture Development Company (IWAD) signed a cooperative agreement with USAID Ghana for a jointly-funded Power Innovations in Commercial Agriculture (PICA) project in January 2016 to introduce solar energy solutions for irrigation in the basin of the Sisili-Kulpawn rivers.

Aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity and profitability of small holder farmers, the two-year project is envisaged to achieve significant cost reduction through the installation of a solar power hybrid system to power irrigation equipment.

It will also assess financial models for least-cost hybrid power solutions and test smaller solar applications in the agricultural sector.

A baseline study was conducted to measure indicators in the projects zone of influence, the Mamprugu-Moaduri and Builsa South Districts, and subsequently provide evidence for setting targets and tracking outputs, outcomes and overall project impact.

The study approach utilized quantitative data collection methods with questionnaires as the main data collection instrument. Using a simple random sampling technique, 100 farmers were selected to participate in the study. The majority of sampled respondents were male (73.00%), married (86.00%) and without formal education (82.00%