The move initiated by the government to install 500,000 solar-powered pumps across the country by 2020 to facilitate irrigation is indeed a piece of good news. Seeking out alternatives for conventional power sources has been a matter of urgency for long, ever since farmers became increasingly dependent on irrigation in the dry season for cultivation of, among others, the foremost staple variety -- Boro. No doubt, if the government's Power Division succeeds in implementing this large and highly beneficial project, its results would directly reach the grassroots -- the farmers. It need not be mentioned that high cost of running the existing oil-generated pumps has been the cause of much of the misery of the Boro cultivators, in particular.
To kick-start the massive project activities, the immediate need would be to replace the mostly diesel-run irrigation pumps all over the country. For this, the Power Division is reportedly working currently on a master plan in order that much of the replacement work is completed by the year, 2017. The master plan, if worked out as planned, would take five years to wrap up the entire job of installing 500,000 solar powered irrigation pumps. The job would involve replacing the diesel or electricity-run pumps by solar pumps as well as installing new solar ones in specific locations. A news agency report, quoting Power Division sources, says that the capacity of each of the solar-powered irrigation pumps will be about 8.0 kilowatt and these would be able to run for five to eight hours a day to pump about 500,000 litres of water.
The country has reportedly about 1.566 million irrigation pumps of which 1.3 million are diesel-run consuming about 900,000 tons of diesel to irrigate 3.4 million hectares of land. Besides, there are 266,000 grid-connected pumps that consume about 1300 MW of electricity to irrigate 1.7 million hectares of land. Against this backdrop, the state-owned Infrastructure Development Company Limited and the Bangladesh Bank are financing the project for installation of solar-powered pumps. Grants from international donor agencies are also being used by the two organisations to implement the project. Among others, the World Bank, as the report states, is providing $10 million as grants.
Understandably, cost of running the solar pumps would be high and largely unaffordable to farmers at the initial stage. There is thus the need to facilitate credit at low rate of interest so that accessing the benefits of the pumps does not become burdensome. Much of the critical task will rest with the modus operandi of having the pumps operated following installation. Another important issue is about locating the pumps, particularly those which will be installed afresh. The authorities should give due priority to a decision on this. There may be regions in the country where, because of sheer unaffordabilty, farmers keep their lands uncultivated. But facilitating them with solar pumps might bring highly positive results for them as well. These are some of the vital issues that must be kept in mind to make the project really rewarding.
Solar-powered irrigation pumps
FE Team | Published: January 30, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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