Co-creation of Affordable and Clean Pumped Irrigation for Smallholders: Lessons from Nepal and Malawi

Title

Co-creation of Affordable and Clean Pumped Irrigation for Smallholders: Lessons from Nepal and Malawi

 Author

Intriago Zambrano, J.C. (TU Delft Water Resources) ORCID 0000-0001-8026-1195
van Dijk, Ruben (Student TU Delft)
Michavila, Jaime (aQysta)
Arenas, Eva (Comillas Pontifical University)
Diehl, J.C. (TU Delft Design for Sustainability) ORCID 0000-0002-4007-2282
Ertsen, M.W. (TU Delft Water Resources) ORCID 0000-0001-7622-253X

 Date

2020

 Abstract

Pumped irrigation is a way to intensify smallholder production. In this context, the Dutch company aQysta has developed the Barsha pump (BP), the first-ever commercial version of the spiral pumps. BPs, however, face several constraints that affect the decision-making and access of smallholders to this and other agricultural technologies, and thus to their benefits. On this subject, Product Service System (PSS) is a type of business model able to potentially cope with a number of restrictions of different nature. Moreover, if co-created with the feedback of the users, and by addressing contextual tensions of different cases, these models can be substantially richer than their top-down counterparts. Six cases of the use of BPs have been addressed in Nepal and Malawi. Both primary and secondary data, analyzed qualitatively under the analytic induction approach, were collected through unstructured interviews and Q-methodology. Evidence shows a wide range of (non-)technical facilitating and hampering conditions for the BP, as well as preferences of the smallholders in regard to existing and proposed business model elements. Based on the corresponding analysis, a set of opportunities for an improved BP-based business model - PSS, aiming to fulfil several (and at times opposing) needs, is ultimately proposed in the current paper.


 Subject

Barsha pump
Business model
Hydro-powered pump
Irrigation
Product service system
Smallholder

 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f62462cb-4c3a-486e-9cc6-4cb2f73f7443

 DOI

https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2020.052

 ISSN

1606-9749

 Source

Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, 20 (4), 1368-1379

 Part of collection

Institutional Repository

 Document type

journal article

 Rights

© 2020 J.C. Intriago Zambrano, Ruben van Dijk, Jaime Michavila, Eva Arenas, J.C. Diehl, M.W. Ertsen
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