By Kriti Sharma Deepak Varshney Darshini Ravindranath. The agriculture sector in India, as per the India Energy Outlook, accounts for a staggering 80% of the country’s water demand. Within the total cultivable area, 51% relies on rainfed irrigation while the remaining 49% depends on irrigation systems. Out of the 26…
By Shisher Shrestha Manish Kumar Bangladesh’s farmers depend on irrigation powered by imported diesel. With the rising cost of fossil fuel, the diesel-powered irrigation system is becoming increasingly unaffordable. According to Bangladesh’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the country is committed to reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 5% (un-conditionally) by…
By Sunipa Das Gupta SwitchON Foundation, an SDC-IWMI SoLAR innovation fund grantee, is enabling farmers in East and West Midnapore, Nadia, and North 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal to avail of a state government subsidy for SIPs, by facilitating bank loans for them through the Ratnakar Bank Limited (RBL).…
By Archisman Mitra Diesel-based groundwater irrigation has been crucial for Bangladesh’s Boro rice cultivation and subsequent food security. As of 2019, boro accounted for more than half of Bangladesh’s food grain production. However, Bangladesh imports much of its diesel. As a result, it spends roughly $3.2 billion annually on import…
By Shisher Shrestha Kalinga Renewable Energy Manufacturers Pvt. Limited (KARMA), a start-up from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar, innovates in mobile solar irrigation pumps for small and fragmented landholdings in rural Bihar and Odisha. Due to poor irrigation infrastructure and a lack of reliable electricity grids in…
By Shisher Shrestha Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), a SoLAR IF Grantee based in Rachi, aims to transform the lives of tribal households in the tribal belt of Jharkhand. In the Sardakhel village, Rachi, the local tribal group Munda resides. The tribe is dependent on agriculture. But susceptible to…
By Dr Aditi Mukherji Alleviating poverty with minimal carbon emission is at the heart of climate-resilient development. This need is particularly acute in South Asia, where the continuing expansion of irrigation holds the promise of pulling smallholders out of poverty but will also result in significant increases in carbon emissions…
By Mohammed Faiz Alam At Ishnav, a small village in the Anand district in Gujarat, solar panels shine bright in the farmers’ field. The energy generated by these solar panels is used by farmers to run pumps for irrigating their fields. However, there is more to these solar panels.…
By Manohara Khadka “I wish to have a solar powered irrigation pump (SIP),” said a female farmer from Madhavpatti village in the Parsa district of Nepal’s Province No. 2, “but I don’t know how to access one.” Solar irrigation technology has the potential to empower more than 12 million women…
