Determinants and Impact of Solar Irrigation Facility (SIF) Adoption: A Case Study in Northern Bangladesh

Abstract

Insufficient rainfall in the dry season and scarcity of surface water has resulted in firms’ reliance on groundwater for agriculture in the northern part of Bangladesh. Most irrigation systems in the country are diesel or electric, which raises the cost and demand for energy and pollutes the environment. Utilizing the abundant sunshine and disseminating solar-based irrigation systems is expected to be a fittingly rewarding experience for irrigation purposes. Therefore, this study identifies the factors influencing the adoption of solar irrigation facilities (SIFs) and the impacts of their adoption on irrigation cost, return on investment (ROI), and production costs, using survey data collected from 405 rice farmers of Dinajpur district. The study employed three treatment effect estimators, namely inverse probability weighting (IPW), regression adjustment (RA), and inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA), to address the potential selection bias issue. The results revealed that farming experience, knowledge, environmental awareness, soil fertility, and irrigation machinery ownership significantly influenced adoption decisions. The treatment effect model result indicated that farmers who adopted this method could minimize irrigation costs by 1.88 to 2.22%, obtain 4.48 to 8.16% higher ROI, and reduce total production cost by 0.06 to 0.98% compared to non-adopters. Our findings suggested that policy interventions targeting scaling up SIFs should consider focusing on government and stakeholders’ greater attention on designing more appropriate schemes through experimentation and multiple iterations.