Studies on solar water pumping based micro-irrigation for sustainable vegetable cultivation

Abstract

The growing demands of energy and water particularly in the present agricultural sector have necessitated the adoption of reliable, environment-friendly and water saving technologies so as to combat against the energy crisis and water stress in near future. It has been established that conventional sources of energy like oil, gas, coal etc. will not be able to provide the desired levels of energy security to mankind in foreseeable future. Hence, there is a global consensus for exploitation and utilization of different renewable energy resources. The search for new options should be eco-friendly as well as abundant in nature. Among the different available renewable energy resources, solar energy seems to be more promising and sustainable. Solar powered agricultural irrigation may be an attractive application for renewable energy in replacing fossil fuel powered irrigation devices to achieve energy security. The use of solar photovoltaic systems may provide good solution not only for all energy related problems of the present society but also perform excellently in terms of productivity, reliability, sustainability and environmental protection ability. Solar photovoltaic water pumping systems can provide water for irrigation without the need for any kind of fuel or the extensive maintenance as required by diesel and electric pump sets. Therefore, an attempt has been made to develop an affordable and portable solar PV water pumping system for irrigating vegetable crops in the state of Odisha. Micro-irrigation method through sprinkler system has been integrated with the solar PV device to achieve judicious utilization of water. Monthly income of Rs. 15,000/- throughout the year was possible by adopting remunerative tomato cultivation in 1 acre of land both during rabi and summer seasons in the year 2017 in coastal region of Odisha. Pay- back period of the developed set up was calculated to be only half year, due to which, it may be easily accepted by the small and marginal farmers of the state in spite of its high initial cost. The popularization of this technology would not only achieve assured water availability to the crops with improved water use efficiency measures by micro-sprinkler irrigation system compared to traditional flooded method of irrigation but also protect the environment against release of green house gases and noise pollution by the use of rising diesel and electric pump sets in the state.