By Frederique Achieng’
A wedding garden business owner in Kisumu has cut her water pumping expenses from Sh2,000 a week to zero by using a solar water pump sold on an instalment credit plan. The saved expenses have paid for the pump in just nine months and left her with a charging device for phones and lights as well as a permanent water supply.
Elizabeth Ombok abandoned cotton farming in 2012 due to poor sales, but it wasn’t until 2018 that she decided to use her one-acre of land to create a garden for a wedding venue.
“My main challenge was getting a constant supply of water to be able to maintain an all-year-round green garden. At first, I used to use water supplied by the Kisumu County Council, but with the water crisis, I had to look for alternative means to maintain my garden,” she said.
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The first alternative she turned to was a diesel-fueled water pump. But she was spending Sh2,000 a week fueling the pump. So she then changed to the solar powered water pump, an Sf2 pump that she bought for Sh73,000.
The pump brings up to 3,600 liters of water per hour a distance of 0ft-22ft (7m) from the water source and discharges water up to a distance of 500m.
The pack she paid for included a solar pump, two 60W panels, 6M of high quality suction hose, free installation and a spare parts kit with management tools, all of which she bought from the firm FuturePump.
Aside from the simplicity of the pump, Future Pump lets farmers have a payment plan if they are unable to pay for the pump at one go. The payment plan ranges from a period of three months to one year.
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According to Elizabeth, the panels she has allow it to pump water continuously, even on a cloudy day, and they can also be sued to charge electrical accessories, such as phones and flashlights, making it suitable for farmers in remote areas with no access to electricity.
For Elixabeth, her Sh73,000 of spending saved her Sh96,000 of costs in its first year of use, and sees her now set up with free pumping and charging for years to come.
Future Pump can be reached on 0799653260
President Uhuru Kenyatta at the launch of the FuturePump SE1 solar pump Credit: State House, Kenya