The increasing costs of using diesel for irrigation pump sets, limited availability of grid electricity supply and non availability of electricity in remote areas due to high cost are often deterring farmer’s especially small and marginal farmers to provide sufficient irrigation to his crop resulting in reduction in crop productivity affecting economic viability of farming activity.
It is need of hour to adopt solar water pump system which has numerous benefit and advantage over convention grid electricity connection or diesel pump set to farmer and environment. The drip irrigation is now well accepted as means of saving in water, energy and other agri inputs among farmers community. The integration of Solar water pump and drip irrigation is complementary to each other and its combination would provide best solution to save energy and water coupled with other benefits in agricultural sector of Gujarat.
In view above Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (Govt. Of India), New Delhi has entrusted GGRC to implement “Installation of 1400 numbers of Solar water Pumps for irrigation under “Solar Water Pumping Programme for Irrigation and Drinking Water” in the state of Gujarat during 2014-15.