Solar pumps up incomes for Nepal’s quake-hit farmers

SHIKHARPUR, Nepal — In the village of Shikharpur in Nepal’s remote Himalayan foothills, the faint sound of water can be heard trickling through a large metal pump.

Standing in golden mustard fields, a huge solar panel powers the pump that provides some 40,000 liters of water daily to families still recovering from Nepal’s devastating 2015 earthquake.

“Before (the pump) we used to walk two or three hours a day to collect water,” said Daley Sarki, a vegetable farmer whose mud home still bears the cracked scars of the disaster.

A massive earthquake struck Nepal in April 2015, killing nearly 9,000 people and disrupting the lives of more than 8 million.

Helping families recover has proved harder than expected, for reasons ranging from aid funding delays to a fuel blockade.

In Shikharpur, located about 50 kilometers from the capital, the magnitude-7.8 earthquake left most households without access to drinking water, said Ram Prasad Bolakhe, a community leader.

“There were many problems,” he said, listing destroyed homes, contaminated water and frequent power outages.

To improve access to clean water, a project led by British charity Renewable World set up a solar-powered pump that collects underground water and transfers it up 72 meters to the Himalayan village, where it is stored in tanks.

The system serves about 120 households and a school, said Bolakhe, with each family paying for their own use based on water meter readings.

The climate-smart technology has significantly improved people’s health, Bolakhe said, adding that better sanitation and access to drinking water have limited the spread of waterborne diseases.

Residents say it has boosted incomes, too.

Sarki, a 54-year-old widow, said the time she has saved by no longer having to walk far to fetch water has allowed her and other women farmers to take up second jobs — in her case as a laborer on a dairy farm.

The additional water also means she can grow more produce not just to feed herself, but to sell at the market.

“My income has doubled,” she said, noting that she can now grow crops, including tomatoes and cauliflowers, for two seasons a year.

Rabindra Karki from International Development Enterprises Nepal, a partner of the project that helps poor farmers, said access to water is crucial for villagers to get back on their feet after the quake.

Solar irrigation is more reliable and efficient than traditional water systems as it is less vulnerable to erratic rainfall and high altitudes, he said.

The technology should be rolled out to more remote parts of the country to help disadvantaged communities, he added.