Through the Eco-Engenho Institute,
José Roberto da Fonseca e Silva is solving
water shortage issues and enhancing
food security in Northeastern Brazil.
Credit: Ashoka 

Solving Water Shortage Issues and Enhancing Food Security with Innovation and Ingenuity

José Roberto da Fonseca e Silva is doing something few thought possible – using solar technology to grow crops in drought conditions.

Questioning the paradigm of solving water shortage in semi-arid regions of northeastern Brazil with expensive water tanks and subsistence farming, Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow da Fonseca e Silva instead looked to address other production to market distribution problems for the region, enabling the region’s poorest farmers to increase both their productivity and yield.

Through the Eco-Engenho Institute, da Fonseca e Silva’s H2Sol project uses abundant solar energy to increase access to water for irrigation micro-systems. These systems also permit agricultural production without wasting precious water. Beyond adapting technologies, the Eco-Engenho Institute establishes community activities to share expenses and experiences, increasing competitiveness in the consumer market for a community’s growers. The Institute also helps individual producers create social micro-companies, enabling them to receive tax exemptions.

The H2Sol project harnesses abundant solar energy
to increase access to water for irrigation.
Credit: Ashoka

The Eco-Engenho Institute is active in 16 communities in the state of Alagoas state and one in the state of Paraíba. For each community, da Fonseca e Silva adapts different sustainable technologies to meet local needs, giving his model the potential to be transferred to many climates.

Read more: Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow page for José Roberto
Read more: Newsweek story about José Roberto