Nexus of Good: Prosperity under the Sun

The monsoon this year was delayed in Bihar. Thus, sowing of paddy and other crops had to be postponed by almost one month. Subsequently the rainfall was also deficient for a large part of the season. The small farmers started facing hardships due to the lack of water for crucial sowing window. However, many farmers escaped these hardships, credit to the irrigation services provided by some women entrepreneurs. For instance, irrigation services provided by Usha Devi came as a huge relief to the farmers of Ratanpura village in Bochaha block of Bihar. She runs a solar pump as a micro-enterprise by selling irrigation water to 31 other farmers in her village. She charges almost half the rates in comparison to diesel pump operators in the same village. During the months of June and July, she ran the solar pump for almost 200 hours, earning over Rs 20,000. There is a silent irrigation revolution happening in this area, thanks to the women who have come forward to become solar irrigation entrepreneurs.

The context

Irrigation is the key differentiator between impoverished and prosperous farming communities in India. Entire Eastern India is flush with good amount of groundwater. Still, a large number of small farmers in the region are deprived of affordable and reliable irrigation services. The soil is also fertile, making it suitable for taking at least three crops in a year. There has been a great push by Central and state governments to realise the dream of “Har Khet ko Paani”. The eastern region, including states like Bihar, eastern UP, Odisha, Assam and Jharkhand, can be the powerhouse of supplying agriculture produce in the country and beyond if there is access to quality irrigation services for small farmers. There is generally short supply of perishable produce and pulses during the summers and early monsoon. This region can supply vegetables, pulses etc. to the country and beyond during this lean season, as there is plenty of groundwater available in this region during the summers.

Take the case of Bihar. It has 56 lakh hectares of net cultivable area, out of which net irrigated area is around 70 per cent. This can be taken to over 90 per cent considering the favourable groundwater situation in the state. Currently, most of the irrigation happens through diesel and electricity pumps. According to the minor irrigation census of 2013-14, there are 5.8 lakh diesel pumps for minor irrigation in the state. These diesel operated pumps are not only polluting and cost-intensive in nature but also operate at sub-optimal level when it comes to coverage of land under irrigation. Most of the diesel pumps are idle during the summer season while summer season offers huge potential to Bihar farmers. Recently there has been a shift towards smaller electricity pumps that are mostly operated using domestic connections. In long term, unregulated usage of electricity pumps will burden the state government with huge losses. Are there alternatives available?

Solar can be the gamechanger

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) collaborated with IWMI-Tata programme in the year 2016 to pilot a unique irrigation development programme in Chakhaji village of Samastipur district in Bihar. Chakhaji village has 170 acres of cultivable land. AKRSP(I) provided solar pumps to seven young individuals of the village to become irrigation entrepreneurs by supplying irrigation services to other farmers at affordable rates. Almost seven years down the line, this whole village gets irrigation from the solar pumps that are highly reliable, and at 60 per cent lesser cost than what they were paying earlier. There has been tremendous change in the cropping intensity and income levels of the farmers. Later, AKRSP(I) established over 170 similar systems in different villages of North Bihar. The salient features of the model promoted are given below.

✼ 5 HP solar pumps are given to either individuals or to small groups to run these pumps as a micro-enterprise. Pump owners earn revenue by selling irrigation water to 40 to 80 other farmers in their respective villages;

✼ Women who are members of SHGs are encouraged to become solar irrigation entrepreneurs. This is done with the objective of empowering women in a traditionally men-dominated irrigation sector;

✼ Each solar pump is accompanied by underground pipeline channels so that water can be delivered efficiently to each of the farms covered by these schemes;

✼ Solar pump owners must contribute around 40 per cent of the scheme cost. They are helped to avail low-cost loans from SHGs or other financial institutions to fulfil this condition;

✼ Eight to 10 solar pump schemes are sufficient to saturate 100 per cent agriculture land of a typical Bihar village.

Benefits of the model

✼ Clear ownership makes the system sustainable, as the entrepreneurs are responsible for running and maintaining systems post establishment;

✼ Irrigation entrepreneurs earn through charging farmers for irrigation services. They can earn up to Rs 1.25 lakhs per annum. Women SHGs can take-up this as an entrepreneurship option;

✼ Farmers who avail the irrigation services get water at much lower rates in comparison to diesel-operated systems. These solar systems are also reliable and clean. Cropping intensity goes up as most of the farmers start growing crops three times in a year. Increased availability of water also provides thrust to dairy activities in the villages.

Policy decisions for scaling-up the model

The government has made subsidies available through PM KUSUM scheme wherein 60 per cent subsidy is available (30 per cent state + 30 per cent centre) while 40 per cent is farmers’ contribution. In addition, subsidies are also available on PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana for sprinkler systems which can be integrated with solar irrigation schemes. However, 40 per cent contribution by entrepreneur (appx. 3.2 lakhs) to avail solar scheme is difficult. Hence, some hybrid financing mechanism needs to be designed so that large numbers of people (individual or groups) can come forward to become irrigation entrepreneurs.

AKRSP(I) is putting intensive efforts into attracting government attention to enterprise model of solar irrigation systems. One of the ways is to saturate a cluster of 10-15 villages in the state to showcase impact at scale. AKRSP(I) has identified one block in Muzaffarpur district where it has started implementing a project to demonstrate that irrigation of entire block can be shifted to solar. AKRSP(I) has put a facilitation team on the ground in addition to liaison team which can work with farmers, government, SRLM, credit agencies, and philanthropies to demonstrate the saturation approach.

This effort supported by Aga Khan Foundation deservedly won the Annual Nexus of Good Award, 2023. The model has succeeded in addressing a critical issue and it is scalable through public-private partnership.

Views expressed are personal