Divide and Prosper? Impacts of power-distribution feeder separation on household energy-use, irrigation, and crop production

Abstract

Subsidized access to electricity is important to meet increasing demand for irrigation and reducing reliance on dirtier diesel pumps. Feeder Separation (FS) is an engineering-solution which can ration supply to farmers, curtail power theft, and upgrade the power-grid network. However, limited evidence exists if and how FS actually benefits farmers, other consumers, and the environment.We compared effect of FS to traditional mixed-use feeder system using a quasi-experimental design with 2451 households from 12 districts in Madhya Pradesh, India. While the duration of supply remained the same as the mixed-use system, FS resulted in more regular (42% vs 49%) and better voltage (13% vs 19%) supply. Consequently, households shifted away from kerosene for lighting. Farmers reduced diesel-pump use by 41 h, increased electric-pump use by 45 h, and the net irrigation reduced by 12 percent without adversely affecting crop yields.FS can be a useful template for Low and Middle Income Countries that seek to expand irrigation with affordable access to electricity. Use of dirtier diesel pumps will persist to the extent grid power is unable to meet need of farmers for mechanised irriggattion. Therefore, FS combined with subsidized power for sustainable irrigation and full-priced power-supply beyond that limit can effectively curtail groundwater exploitation and reduce environmental impacts of diesel-pumps.