Community-Based Solar Irrigation Model in Chhattisgarh

ISSUE BRIEF

Community-Based Solar Irrigation in Chhattisgarh

Prospects and Challenges

24 January, 2022 | Energy Transitions, Sustainable Livelihoods

Anas Rahman and Abhishek Jain

Suggested citation: Rahman, Anas and Abhishek Jain. 2022. Community-Based Solar Irrigation in Chhattisgarh: Prospects and Challenges. New Delhi: Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

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Overview

This study investigates a community-owned and managed model of solar irrigation (led by women self-help groups) implemented by Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. It aims to assess the impact of irrigation access on agricultural incomes. The study also highlights the challenges and roadblocks in scaling up the women-SHG-based community solar irrigation model and the ways to tackle them.

Key Highlights

Solar pumps can help improve irrigation access for communities and areas hereto deprived of electricity-based irrigation. However, most marginal and small Indian farmers cannot afford solar pumps without financing.
The utilisation rate of individual offgrid solar pumps is typically less than 30 per cent, representing poor social returns against the public money invested in the pump. Community solar pumps can help address the challenge by enhancing asset utilisation.
A community-based ownership model is economically attractive to farmers, translating to an estimated 32 per cent increase in agricultural income for the participants interviewed.

Access to solar pumps significantly improved cropping intensity among participants

Source: Authors’ analysis

With the community-based model, the government can reach 15–20 low-income farmers with one solar pump instead of providing one subsidised pump per farmer thereby significantly expanding the reach of government-supported solar pumps.
Projects where only one SHG was involved had much better cohesion and dispute resolution mechanisms than when a pump was being shared between members of multiple SHGs.

Key Recommendations

Leverage existing networks of self-help groups (SHGs) created under the National Rural Livelihood Mission.
Sustain engagement with farmer groups to assist in complementary support mechanisms like training in cultivation practices and input support in order to augment outcomes.
Frame group rules to manage group dynamics through iterative learning.
Partner with existing departments such as livelihood missions as well as facilitator and anchoring organisations, like NGOs or registered producer organisation promoting institutions (POPI), for additional support in project design, capacity building and handholding the groups.

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Abhishek Jain

Fellow & Director - Powering Livelihoods

[email protected]

Sustained engagement with farmer groups, converging with support from existing departments such as livelihood missions, would be essential to ensure long-term sustainability.

Abstract

Promoting solar pumping technology among marginalised and low-income farmers and scaling it up sustainably requires innovations in solar pump delivery models. In this brief, we investigate a community-owned and managed model of solar irrigation implemented by Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

We conducted baseline and end-line interviews as well as focus group discussions with users to evaluate the cost effectiveness and efficiency of communityowned solar pumps over a 11-month period. We found that the model is economically attractive to farmers, translating to an estimated 32 per cent increase in agricultural income for participants. In this model, the government can reach 15–20 low-income farmers with one solar pump instead of providing one subsidised pump per farmer – significantly expanding the reach of government-supported solar pumps. We also found that there is scope to reduce the subsidy by partly replacing it with self-help group (SHG) loans. We also found that starting with a lighthouse project is an effective strategy to spread awareness and set expectations. The government can replicate this strategy while scaling up the programme by setting up one project each at the block or cluster level in the first phase.

However, there are also many challenges in sustaining group-based initiatives. We found that groups based on existing social structures resolve issues better. The model included two kinds of projects – one in which a solar pump is shared within one SHG and another in which the pump is shared between the members of multiple SHGs. We found that projects where only one SHG was involved had much better cohesion and dispute resolution mechanisms than the other type. We identified multiple stress points in group cooperation, primarily arising from a lack of clear-cut rules and codification of by-laws. We propose that sustained hand holding and group capacity building is essential to tackle the challenges arising from watersharing disputes. Complementary support mechanisms like training in cultivation practices and input support can greatly augment outcomes. For the state-wise scale-up of the model, the state rural livelihood mission (SRLM) should take the leading role.

Community ownership model for solar pumps

As the name suggests, ownership of a solar pump is shared by multiple farmers in such a model. The model potentially offers the following benefits:

Brings down the cost for individual farmers as the farmer contribution is shared by a group.
Reduces the government’s outlay per farmer, effectively enabling access to irrigation for more farmers within the same fiscal outlay.
Improves the utilisation of solar pumps as farmers can stagger their irrigation.
Promotes judicious use of water by farmers, as a common and explicitly shared resource is used to pump water.

Thus, conceptually, community-owned solar pumps can help states provide irrigation access to poor farmers while addressing groundwater exploitation concerns.

How do community-owned solar pump models fare in practice? To answer this question, we partnered with Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) to assess a pilot community-ownership model of solar pump irrigation in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. We ran an impact evaluation to assess the real-world feasibility and dynamics of the model.

Conclusion and the way forward

The community-ownership model holds potential for expanding irrigation access through solar pumps, especially among low-income farmers. It can support groups of 5–25 farmers, depending on the size of the individual plots. With the support of government subsidies or SHG-based financing, the farmers would be able to afford irrigation at a low recurring cost. Depending on the subsidy share, the payback period can be as low as one season, and the increase in annual agriculture income can be significant.

Based on the early learnings, scaling up this model at the state level would require several steps from the state government:

States could focus on leveraging existing networks of SHGs created under the National Rural Livelihood Mission. Project JOHAR – Jharkhand Opportunities for Harnessing Rural Growth Project – by the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) in partnership with the World Bank provides a template for a state rural livelihood mission–led adoption of this model.
Anchoring organisations have a critical role to play in providing additional support such as project design and capacity building. SRLMs should evaluate the capacity of their networks to undertake such tasks. They could hire a dedicated staff pool focused only on solar pumps to make the model more sustainable. The state could also partner with facilitator organisations, like NGOs working in an area or registered producer organisation promoting institutions (POPI), wherever they are present for handholding the groups.
Sustained engagement with farmer groups, converging with support from existing departments such as livelihood missions, would be essential to ensure long-term sustainability. The engagement should focus on capacity building and group strengthening.
A key strategy in this multi-step programme is framing group rules to manage group dynamics through iterative learning.

Although it is an effort-intensive model for states to adopt, with the right kind of planning and investment, states could consider it to rapidly expand irrigation access within limited fiscal resources.