Energy-water-agriculture nexus: grow solar, save water, double the farm income

The perverse energy-water-agriculture nexus into which India has been trapped for more than fifty years is well known. The complexity of political economy has been a major impediment to finding financially and economically viable and politically acceptable solutions. Many Indian states have tried to address the challenge through various initiatives such as Direct Benefit
Transfer for Electricity. Advancements in technology and falling prices, particularly of solar panels, have opened enormous opportunities of not only shifting the nexus into a virtuous cycle
but also transforming rural livelihoods. By focusing only on energy and/or water dimension of the solar energy, India may be missing a huge opportunity of increasing farm income, making agriculture climate resilient, and reducing agro-dependence of rural India. Experience of states
in implementing off-grid solar for irrigation, solar cooperatives (Dhundi and Majkuva in Gujarat), sub-station level solar generation (Maharashtra), feeder-level solarization of irrigation
(SKY scheme of Gujarat), though in early stages and often being recalibrated, provide useful lessons to be shared to improve the business models for accelerating use of solar in agriculture.
The workshop was organized to bring together states, policy and technical experts, farmer
representatives, and private sector to share their experiences and explore the possibilities of
leveraging the full potential of the recently announced KUSUM scheme of Government of India.