Solar-powered irrigation pumps are significantly cutting farmers' diesel and electricity costs on the chars of Sariakandi in Bogura. Irrigation runs on solar power in the Narchi, Fulbari and Bohail unions, and officials estimate that this saves about 7.5 million litres of diesel over one four-month irrigation season.
Citing a preliminary assessment under the SACP-RAINS project, Sariakandi upazila agriculture officer Ali Jinnah said the saving is about Tk 9,000 a bigha, and that carbon emissions fall by about one and a half tonnes on 15 bighas.
Kohinoor Begum of Godagari village in Narchi union said she used to irrigate her land with a diesel pump at great cost per bigha, and her household electricity bill came to Tk 700 to 800. Now she pays no bill for irrigation or for her home, she said.
Bablu Mondal of Nayapara in Fulbari union said he and other farmers now use the pump. He used to spend at least Tk 2,500 to irrigate boro rice; now he has no irrigation cost and his home electricity bill has halved. The water from the solar pump is safe to drink, he said, so it serves household needs as well as farming.
Pumps that run on sunlight need no fuel, lowering production costs for irrigated crops such as boro rice and cutting emissions at the same time.
Reporting: Imran Hossain Rubel, Sariakandi (Bogura), Amar Desh
Photo: Power Division, Government of Bangladesh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Amar Desh
Comments
(0)