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Productive Use

Stimulating Demand and Economic Development with Electrification

Electrification’s ultimate measure of success—and its real contribution—is to both meet basic humanitarian needs and underpin economic development. There is no benefit to electricity access unless affordable, reliable electricity supply is accompanied by the means to use that power. At the same time, customers who use increasing amounts of electricity drive financial viability for the system by spreading high fixed costs over more electricity sales. Stimulating end-use consumption is both an end and a means of the energy access agenda.

Electrifying productive uses is critical to enabling access to sustainable, commercially -led electricity in un- and under-served rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural activities are the bedrock of the local economies in these communities. Yet, agriculture and electricity actors rarely coordinate to understand which agricultural activities to electrify (and where) to generate win-win opportunities for both sectors.

Many commercial electricity providers lack the knowledge of and linkages to the agricultural sector or the necessary financial resources to develop productive uses.

As a result, most investments in rural electrification are not accompanied by a surge of income-generating activity. To address this gap, RMI is working with partners in Nigeria and Ethiopia to develop and pilot innovative productive use business models that meet the needs of local entrepreneurs, their communities, and minigrid operators.

To learn more about RMI’s work focusing on productive use, view the blogs and reports below.

Articles on Productive Use

Reports and Insight Briefs

  • Hafsat Abdullahi processes small batches of local shea nuts into shea butter using traditional preparation methods.
    Hafsat Abdullahi processes small batches of local shea nuts into shea butter using traditional preparation methods.
  • Akpere Ejah Frances, a cocoa trader in Bankpor community in Cross River state. He purchases fresh beans from farmers, dries them and sells to other traders and small processors.
    Akpere Ejah Frances, a cocoa trader in Bankpor community in Cross River state. He purchases fresh beans from farmers, dries them and sells to other traders and small processors.
  • Hand-peeled cassava tubers.
    Hand-peeled cassava tubers.
  • Otala Ibe is a rice miller in Cross River state. His old, single-stage mill removes rice bran but also breaks a large fraction of the kernel in the process. Replacing mills like his with electric, two-stage mills is rated 'deployment-ready' for all criteria.
    Otala Ibe is a rice miller in Cross River state. His old, single-stage mill removes rice bran but also breaks a large fraction of the kernel in the process. Replacing mills like his with electric, two-stage mills is rated 'deployment-ready' for all criteria.
  • Milled rice.
    Milled rice.
  • Beatrice Ogbeche, a rice trader in Yala community, Cross River State.
    Beatrice Ogbeche, a rice trader in Yala community, Cross River State.
  • A flour mill in Dawan Malam community, Kaduna state powered by a 5.5 horsepower petrol motor. The Abdullahi family uses the same machine to offer fee-for-service milling for maize, soybean, and shea nuts.
    A flour mill in Dawan Malam community, Kaduna state powered by a 5.5 horsepower petrol motor. The Abdullahi family uses the same machine to offer fee-for-service milling for maize, soybean, and shea nuts.
  • Blessing Friday Ube preparing fish for sale in Atimbo, a peri-urban community 20 minutes from Calabar in Cross River state. She trades fresh catfish in addition to other captured fish from a nearby river, and reports that she would use refrigeration to store some of her products.
    Blessing Friday Ube preparing fish for sale in Atimbo, a peri-urban community 20 minutes from Calabar in Cross River state. She trades fresh catfish in addition to other captured fish from a nearby river, and reports that she would use refrigeration to store some of her products.
  • Sun-dried sorghum panicles ready for manual threshing in Damaski community, Kaduna state.
    Sun-dried sorghum panicles ready for manual threshing in Damaski community, Kaduna state.
  • Abdulkadir Aliyu posing with freshly threshed soybeans in Giwaye community, Kaduna state. Mr. Aliyu farms maize, soybean, and chili peppers near the town center. He uses mechanical threshing for maize but hires manual labor to thresh his soybean crop.
    Abdulkadir Aliyu posing with freshly threshed soybeans in Giwaye community, Kaduna state. Mr. Aliyu farms maize, soybean, and chili peppers near the town center. He uses mechanical threshing for maize but hires manual labor to thresh his soybean crop.

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