Solar Power Improves Farming and the Lives of Farmers
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Conatus News/Uncommon Ground Media Inc.
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/04/09
Farmer’s lives have been improving with the increase in the efficiency, and even automation, in the domains of agriculture and farming. The World Economic (WEF) reported on the changing trends in the energy systems of the world of farming.
The author of the article, Mehrin Mahbub, described making a trip into the north of Bangladesh: “a young man working in a rice field under the scotching sun caught my attention. Habibur, 28, looked content amidst the wide green vista of fields.”
The life of this 28-year-old farmer was hard due to family and finance struggles. As a rice farmer, a rice cultivator, Habibur purchased a cow and leased land for rice cultivation, which “is a common practice in rural Bangladesh.”
With the rural Bangladeshi farming for Habibur, the irrigation is important for the yield and quality of the crops. However, for the irrigation, Habibur’s family needed diesel generators. Access to these is limited.
And “the diesel price [was] hiked in the local market, and he had to pay more than the government approved rate.” Circa October, 2015, Habibur and his family were able to have solar-powered irrigation, which allowed for solar pumps.
It “covers around 12 hectares of land and provides 500,000 liters of water daily. Habibur and 28 other farmers share the cost of a single irrigation pump that waters their fields. Their irrigation cost has dropped almost by half.”
Solar has less of a negative impact on the environment than diesel as an energy source. The cost in terms of finances and the environmental impact decreased from October, 2015 to the present. These solar pumps have made life easier for the farmers.
Money saved is money earned, and was used to buy more cattle. With the Bangladesh successes, there are solar-powered systems in homes for the provision of electricity in the rural areas of Bangladesh.
The World Bank is supporting this endeavour. It will help install 1,250 solar irrigation pumps by 2018. With the flatter terrain and higher levels of sunlight, the solar energy sources are adequate sources of energy for the farmers.
“The Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development Project II (RERED II) is piloting solar-powered irrigation solutions using a public-private partnership model.” The WEF said, “The implementing agency, Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) channels grant and credit funding to the non-government organisations and private investors who install the solar pumps.”
300 pumps are helping 8,000 farmers to date. The pumps need little maintenance and will reduce the emissions of carbon. About $0.9 billion is spent on diesel fuel per annum by Bangladesh for irrigation purposes. This will cost less, assist farmers and improve environmental conditions.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 