Rajasthan govt encourages farmers to set up solar pumps to cut cost

The Rajasthan government is encouraging farmers to set up solar pumps in their fields by giving subsidies going up to 60 per cent so that they do not have to depend on electricity for irrigation.

“Farmers were dependent on electricity connections, diesel-run machines, etc. Now with solar pumps their dependence has reduced a lot,” a senior agriculture department official said.

He said farm produce had increased as a result of this.

Rajasthan came top in the country in setting up solar pumps, according to him.

Agriculture Commissioner Kanaram said farmers were subsidised up to 60 per cent of the cost of setting up a solar-energy pump.

The state government has made the provision of an additional subsidy of Rs 45,000 to farmers who belong to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes (STs) and a 100 per cent subsidy on solar pump plants of 3 and 5horsepower to ST farmers under the tribal sub-plan areas.

The official said in the last four years, more than Rs 982.95 crore in subsidies had been given to over 57,000 farmers.

The chief minister, in the 2022-23 Budget, had proposed a subsidy of Rs 500 crore to 100,000 farmers for the next two years for setting up solar pumps.

To get the subsidy, it is necessary for a farmer to use drip, mini sprinklers, micro sprinklers, or sprinkler plants.

Even farmers using horticulture techniques such as greenhouses among similar types are eligible to get the subsidies. Eligible farmers are given subsidies for setting up solar pumps of 3hp, 5hp and 7.5hp.

Dhannaram Yadav, a farmer in Muhana village, Jaipur district, has set up a 7.5hp solar pump plant and his dependence on electricity has ended. He said earlier his electricity bill was Rs 7,000 a month, and it has become more or less nil.