Profiles of the first 3 Lighthouse Farms Enrolled in the SPIS- 4-FNS Project in Laikipia, Isiolo and Meru Counties, Kenya
[view document – Profiles of 3 Lighthouse Farms for SPIS-4-FNS project (Updated)_March 2026]
1. Background
1.1 About the SPIS-4-FNS Project
Upscaling Food and Nutrition Security through Solar Powered Irrigation integrated with
Rainwater Harvesting for Small-scale Farmers in the Upper Ewaso Ng’iro Basin, Kenya (SPIS-
4-FNS) is a research project funded by the Germany Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
(Bundesministeriums für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft – BMEL). The project is implemented
by the SusLAND research group at ZALF, Germany in collaboration with JKUATES and JKUAT
in Kenya. Other partners are PV-Projects and FiW of Germany, and AIAP and MKEWP of
Kenya. The project started with a preparatory Initial phase in 2023, after which the full
proposal was developed. The full 3-year research project commenced in February 2025.
1.1 Identifying the starter three (3) Lighthouse Farms
The identification of the three (3) starter lighthouse farms started during the project initial
phase in 2023. A baseline survey was conducted in Laikipia, Meru and Isiolo counties to
understand the local context and identify gaps which can be addressed through SPIS.
Questionnaire surveys were conducted and interviewed 173 respondents who included 57 in
Laikipia, 57 in Meru and 59 in Isiolo. All the farms visited had irrigation where water pumping
was necessary. In addition, all the farms in Laikipia and Meru had water harvesting pans while
those in Isiolo had shallow groundwater wells used for irrigation. The information gathered
from these respondents was enriched with data from key informants mainly government
officials and relevant organizations such as WRUAs. The purpose was to probe on the use of
solar powered irrigation in the three counties. At the time, only 3 farms had some form of
solar water pumping for irrigation.
