IT'S A BAKING-HOT February day in Matanya, a village that straddles the equator, a few hours' drive north of Nairobi. Smiling broadly, Patrick Gicheru is sowing carrots in layers of soil and compost at his 0.8-hectare farm and recalling a profitable crop of peppers that recently came from the same field. Tomatoes maturing on another plot should be ready for market in a month. “Tomatoes are going for about 80 shillings per kilo,” he says. He estimates the crop will fetch him roughly 10,000 Kenyan shillings—a little over US $93—every week for nearly three months.• This year's tomato harvest alone will nearly pay for the technology that's underpinning Gicheru's success: a solar-powered water pump. A model of simplicity, it consists of a 310-watt photovoltaic panel, a 440-watt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, and a controller that supports his 3,000-liter-per-hour direct-current pump as well as a few LED lights, a mobile phone charger, and a flat-screen TV.• In February 2020, when I visited Gicheru, the small farmer had zero control over the COVID-19 pandemic that was spreading toward Kenya, or the historic locust invasion devouring fields throughout East Africa. But the solar pump he acquired in 2019 was tapping a stable supply of groundwater, boosting his yields and growing seasons, and neutralizing the waves of drought that have afflicted sub-Saharan Africa since time immemorial. • Before acquiring his solar system, Gicheru—like the vast majority of Kenya's small farmers—relied exclusively on rainfall. He also raised cattle back then and lost many to dry spells. He describes life with solar-powered irrigation as a new era: “It has really transformed our lives. At the end of the day, I can be able to put food on the table. I'm also employing people, so I can help them put food on the table. So I thank God. I'm happy.”

中文翻译：

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Off-Grid Solar 的杀手级应用：太阳能泵、电池和小额信贷正在引发非洲农业复兴

距离内罗毕以北几个小时车程的横跨赤道的村庄马坦亚（Matanya）正值二月天，天气炎热。帕特里克·吉切鲁 (Patrick Gicheru) 面带微笑，正在他占地 0.8 公顷的农场的土壤和堆肥层中播种胡萝卜，并回忆起最近从同一块田里收获的有利可图的辣椒。在另一个地块上成熟的西红柿应该可以在一个月内上市。“西红柿每公斤售价约 80 先令，”他说。他估计，在近三个月的时间里，这种作物每周可为他带来大约 10,000 肯尼亚先令——略高于 93 美元。• 仅今年的番茄收获就几乎支付了支持 Gicheru 成功的技术：太阳能水泵。一个简单的模型，它由一个 310 瓦的光伏面板，一个 440 瓦时的锂离子电池组，和支持他每小时 3,000 升直流泵的控制器以及几个 LED 灯、一个手机充电器和一台平板电视。• 2020 年 2 月，我访问了小农 Gicheru对向肯尼亚蔓延的 COVID-19 大流行或整个东非历史悠久的蝗虫入侵吞噬田地的控制为零。但他在 2019 年购买的太阳能泵正在利用稳定的地下水供应，提高产量和生长季节，并消除自古以来就困扰着撒哈拉以南非洲地区的干旱浪潮。• 在获得太阳系之前，Gicheru 与肯尼亚绝大多数小农一样，完全依赖降雨。那时他还养了牛，但因干旱而失去了许多牛。他将太阳能灌溉的生活描述为一个新时代：“它真的改变了我们的生活。一天结束时，我可以把食物放在桌子上。我也在雇佣人，所以我可以帮助他们把食物放在桌子上。所以我感谢上帝。我很高兴。”