What Determines the Adoption of Solar-Powered Irrigation Pumps in India? An Analysis of Macro and Micro-Level Data

The climate-friendly solar-powered irrigation pump is expected to reduce the exploitation of groundwater, save electricity costs, and increase income for farmers.It is also expected to reduce global warming by reducing CO2 emissions, etc.Therefore, solar-powered irrigation pumps have been promoted with an attractive subsidy scheme by the government of India.Though the adoption of solar pumps has been increasing at a faster pace in recent years, the intensity of adoption of such pumps is not appreciable in many states in India.Since the adoption of solar pumps is still in a nascent stage, an attempt has been made in this study to find out the determinants of the adoption of solar pumps using both macro and micro-level data.While the macro-level analysis was carried out using the data of 17 major states, the micro-level analysis was carried out using survey data collected from 304 sample farmers belonging to four districts of Tamil Nadu.The multiple regression analysis carried out covering data from major states shows that the electricity tariff rate influences the adoption of solar pumps positively and significantly, while the share of the non-foodgrains area to the cropped area determines its adoption negatively and significantly.The logit regression results estimated by using field survey data suggest that the education of the farmer, cropping intensity, and farm size are more likely to influence the adoption of solar irrigation pumps.