Subsidised solar pumps to help reduce cultivation cost

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government will make solar photovoltaic irrigation pumps available to its farmers at a highly subsidised price in collaboration with the Centre to help reduce the increasing cultivation cost as well as decrease the carbon footprint.

A scheme notified by the agriculture department last week seeks to provide 57,289 solar pumps of 1hp-5 hp capacity between 2017-18 and 2021-22 for small and marginal farmers who do not have access to assured means of irrigation. The with subsidy burden will come to around ₹745 crore.

The scheme is part of the Centre/state government’s plan that aims at doubling farmers’ income during the next five years through various policy interventions.

“The cost of agriculture has significantly gone up with more and more farmers depending on diesel-powered pump sets due to lack of adequate electricity supply,” principal secretary, irrigation, Amit Mohan Prasad says in the circular giving administrative approval to the scheme.

The notification says the subsidised solar-powered irrigation pumps will be made available to eligible farmers on the first come, first served basis, seeing the demand-supply gap.

As many as 2,33,344 farmers had already registered themselves on the department’s website by September 9 to avail themselves of the scheme under which 17,289 solar pumps will be given to farmers during the current financial year, 10,000 each during 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, in areas where the ground water level is between 10 and 70 metres below the surface.

For every 1hp solar pump that has been estimated to cost ₹2.40 lakh, the state government will provide ₹1.08 lakh subsidy. The Centre will give ₹60,000 and the remaining ₹72,000 cost will be paid by the farmer. The subsidy amount will vary depending on the capacity and cost of the solar pump that a farmer wants to procure.

The government has, however, put certain conditions that a farmer has to meet to be eligible to avail himself of the subsidised scheme.

Only those small and marginal farmers who depend on diesel pump sets for irrigation or do not have other energy sources for irrigation will be eligible for the scheme if the place where the solar pump is to be installed is 300 metre away from the power grid.

As much as 22.5% of the total solar irrigation pumps will be made available to farmers belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The implementation of the new scheme, it is claimed, will not only help farmers reduce their cost of cultivation but also save electricity in the state that often grapples with a power deficit.

2,33,344 FARMERS HAD ALREADY REGISTERED THEMSELVES ON THE DEPARTMENT’S WEBSITE BY SEPTEMBER 9 TO AVAIL THE SCHEME