The Jharkhand government said it is focusing on adopting renewable energy-based irrigation projects to boost income of farmers and curb their migration to other states.
“The state government is installing solar-based lift irrigation facilities in the districts,” a statement issued by the state government said.
Initially, the government is installing this facility in those parts of the state where water is not available throughout the year for irrigation due to inhospitable terrain, the statement said.
The statement further said, apart from employment at the local steel plant as daily wage labourers, a substantial part of the population in Bokaro district is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Since a major part of farmland is used only during the rainy season for paddy cultivation, the administration has installed many solar lift irrigation pumps in the district, therefore, ensuring year-round availability of water for irrigation, it added.
With farmers at the centre of the development process, Jharkhand is working tirelessly to ensure availability of year-round irrigation facilities across the state.
The Bokaro district administration has brought 500 acres of land under the solar lift irrigation facility, benefitting about 480 farming households, stated the statement.
With solar-powered irrigation projects, over 6,000 families have already benefitted in the state.
Forty-eight pump sets, with a capacity of 5HP each, are being installed to cover 500 acres of land.
The administration is installing 48 solar pump units for the lift irrigation facility out of which over 20 units are functional, and work for the remaining part will be done in due course. Also, we are working on the implementation of solar-based mobile irrigation units across different parts of the district. Apart from this, we are also working on the utilisation of abandoned mines for irrigation purposes, the Bokaro deputy commissioner was quoted as saying in the statement.
Latehar and Simdega districts have also adopted the same technique to benefit farmers and promote multiple crop cultivation. In Latehar, more than 1.000 acres of land have been covered under a solar lift irrigation facility with 100 units whereas over 105 solar-based lift irrigation systems have been installed in Simdega helping almost 5,000 families, the statement said.
