Motorcycle-powered pump now makes irrigation easier

Motorcycles have proven to be a reliable form of transport, especially in the rural areas, but now there is another reason why every farmer should invest in one — it can be used to pump water.

A group of youths working under Farmlink-Africa has developed a pump that can be powered by a motorcycle engine instead of the traditional diesel engine, which can pump a total of between 22,000 to 40,000 litres of water per hour and consumes 0.2 litres of petrol in an hour.

“This pump is mounted to a motorcycle power take over — commonly known as the engine shaft — which drives it as it pumps the water from its source,” said the company’s director of sales, Mwangi Mbugiro.

He said the machine can also pump water from a well of up to 40 feet but the speed and amount of water is usually dependent on the depth.

“On a not-so-deep place, the water is pumped fast as compared to pumping it from a well that is deep,” Mr Mwangi said.

The engine has the ability to pump water to as far as 50 metres uphill for a continuous 100 hours. It is suitable for pumping water for irrigation, washing cars, firefighting, spraying crops or fumigating.

“The advantage of this machine is that it uses a locomotive that can be used for other purposes as compared to the common diesel water pump that performs one purpose only and lies idle when you are not pumping water,” Mr Mwangi said during this year’s Agricultural Society of Kenya show at the Kisumu showground.

He said the 1.6kg pump costs Sh12,000 and uses a pipe that retails at Sh400 a metre and added that the company had sold 40 units in the last three weeks.

“There are so many inventions that can be used in agriculture to enhance food production and alleviate poverty and hunger,” Mr Mwangi said as he called on the youth to be more productive.

The Kisumu ASK show had the theme of enhancing technology for agricultural food security.