Sikar, Rajasthan

The average monthly per capita expenditure of rural agricultural households is relatively high for the district, suggesting higher purchasing capacity of the farmers here. The district appears in the group of districts, which are (very) highly vulnerable 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	Not Suitable

Individually owned off-grid solar pumps

Limited Suitability

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

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Number of cultivators reporting use of diesel pumps	18,581	52
Water Availability Index	0.29	21
Crop revenue per holding (INR)	51,901	35
Medium and long term institutional credit disbursed in a year (in INR Crore)	73.3	64

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)	4.13	63
Extent of feeder segregation	19%	33
Proportion of cultivators reporting use of electric pumps	37%	84

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	0.29	21
Proportion of small and marginal cultivators	66%	18
Unirrigated net sown area as a share of total net sown area	49%	40

Promote 1 HP and sub-HP pumps

Not Suitable

The district has a comparatively high disbursement of institutional credit to marginal farmers. But, a rather low concentration of marginal farmers, a relatively low proportion of horticulture crops under gross cropped area, and groundwater availability below the safe limit make it extremely difficult to promote 1 HP and sub-HP pumps here.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Area under horticulture crops as a share of gross cropped area	3%	36
Water Availability Index	0.29	21
Proportion of marginal cultivators	34%	17
Medium and long term institutional credit disbursed in a year (in INR Crore)	73.3	64

Leveraging Solar Pumps to Promote Policy Objectives

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

Doubling Farmers’ Income – Crop Diversification

In the district, horticulture crops occupy a relatively low proportion of gross cropped area, indicating an opportunity for growing more high value non-staple crops. Solar-powered irrigation could be an alternative source of reliable irrigation, making it easier to achieve crop diversification and enhance farmers’ incomes.