Tapi, Gujarat

Overall, water availability for irrigation in the district (based on ground water development and long-term trends of water level decline) is within the safe limit, enhancing long-term sustainability of solar pumps. For average crop revenue per holding, the district appears among the top 25 percentile of districts, implying higher investment capacity of the farmers here. The number of medium and long-term institutional loans disbursed in the district is comparatively small, suggesting poor availability of credit amongst farmers for potential investments.

Deployment Approaches

Approaches	Feasibility
Individually owned off-grid solar pumps	Limited Suitability
Solarisation of feeders	Suitable
Solar based water as a service	Limited Suitability
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 ground water available within the safe limit. But, a relatively low disbursement of institutional credit and comparatively low concentration of diesel pump users make it difficult to promote the private ownership of solar pumps here.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Number of cultivators reporting use of diesel pumps	7,424	36
Water Availability Index	1	100
Crop revenue per holding (INR)	229,897	87
Medium and long term institutional credit disbursed in a year (in INR Crore)	1	24

Solarisation of feeders

Suitable

Given the relatively high bullk power purchase rate for the respective DISCOM, a comparatively high extent of feeder segregation, and a high penetration of electric pumps, solarisation of the feeders would be a recommended way to promote solar-powered irrigation in the district. It would ensure the rapid and cost effective solarisation of irrigation power at a large scale.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Power purchase rate for DISCOM (INR/kWh)	4.17	66
Extent of feeder segregation	100%	69
Proportion of cultivators reporting use of electric pumps	11%	57

Solar based water as a service

Limited Suitability

Groundwater availability in the district is within the safe limit. But, a rather low concentration of small and marginal farmers and a relatively low proportion of unirrigated area make it difficult to promote solar-based irrigation through the water-as-a-service model here.

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Water Availability Index	1	100
Proportion of small and marginal cultivators	68%	20
Unirrigated net sown area as a share of total net sown area	43%	35

Promote 1 HP and sub-HP pumps

Limited Suitability

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

Parameter	Value	Percentile
Area under horticulture crops as a share of gross cropped area	15%	71
Water Availability Index	1	100
Proportion of marginal cultivators	41%	24
Medium and long term institutional credit disbursed in a year (in INR Crore)	1	24

Leveraging Solar Pumps to Promote Policy Objectives

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

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.