Nalgonda, Telangana

The average monthly per capita expenditure of rural agricultural households is relatively high for the district, suggesting higher purchasing capacity of the farmers here. It has a relatively low penetration of banks in rural and semi-rural areas, impeding access to institutional credit for farmers. There is a comparatively high level of farm mechanization in the district, implying a positive outlook towards progressive technologies amongst the farmers. The district appears in the group of districts, which show (very) low vulnerability towards climate change, as per an index constructed by CRIDA.

Deployment Approaches

Approaches	Feasibility
Individually owned off-grid solar pumps	Limited Suitability
Solarisation of feeders	Limited Suitability
Solar based water as a service	Not Suitable
Promote 1 HP and sub-HP pumps	Limited Suitability

Individually owned off-grid solar pumps

Limited Suitability

The district has high crop revenue per holding, and a high concentration of diesel pump users. But, disbursement of institutional credit is low and ground water availability is below the safe limit, making it very difficult to promote the private ownership of solar pumps here.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Number of cultivators reporting use of diesel pumps	121,397	89
Water Availability Index	0.72	57
Crop revenue per holding (INR)	132,025	69
Medium and long term institutional credit disbursed in a year (in INR Crore)	21.5	46

Solarisation of feeders

Limited Suitability

The district has a relatively high penetration of electric pumps, and its DISCOM has a rather high bulk power purchase rate, but the district has a comparatively low extent of feeder segregation. Solarisation of the feeders will only be possible once the district separates agricultural feeders from the rest.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Power purchase rate for DISCOM (INR/kWh)	5.01	99
Extent of feeder segregation	3%	25
Proportion of cultivators reporting use of electric pumps	44%	88

Solar based water as a service

Not Suitable

The district has a rather low concentration of small and marginal farmers and a relatively low proportion of unirrigated area. Moreover, groundwater availability is below the safe limit, making it extremely difficult to promote solar-based irrigation through the water-as-a-service model here.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Water Availability Index	0.72	57
Proportion of small and marginal cultivators	84%	47
Unirrigated net sown area as a share of total net sown area	50%	41

Promote 1 HP and sub-HP pumps

Limited Suitability

The district has a comparatively high disbursement of institutional credit to marginal farmers and a relatively high proportion of horticulture crops under gross cropped area. But groundwater availability below safe limit and a rather low concentration of marginal farmers limits the demand for 1 HP and sub-HP pumps in the district.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Area under horticulture crops as a share of gross cropped area	6%	52
Water Availability Index	0.72	57
Proportion of marginal cultivators	59%	43
Medium and long term institutional credit disbursed in a year (in INR Crore)	21.5	46

Leveraging Solar Pumps to Promote Policy Objectives

If you are deploying solar pumps in this district then you can further these policy objectives.

National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP)

The relatively low share of oilseeds and oil palm crops under gross sown area in the district makes it a suitable candidate for promoting NMOOP. Solar pumps could meet irrigation needs for these crops and help farmers diversify their yields beyond cereals.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Area under oilseeds as a share of total cropped area	1%	24

Per Drop More Crop

In the district, crops suitable for drip and sprinkler irrigation occupy a relatively high proportion of gross cropped area, making it easy to adopt such high precision irrigation methods. Solar pumps, along with other efficient and precise water application devices, could be deployed under Per Drop More Crop to promote efficient irrigation.