Solar power could mean a bright future for Potohar’s farmers
In the village of Saroba, over 75km from the city on Chakri Road, the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC) has selected farms to help farmers use solar energy.
The small and medium-sized farms are fed water through a solar energy pump system, and solar energy also powers the farmers’ fodder cutting machines, wheat flour milling machines and their home appliances. They also use solar power to grow off-season crops in tunnel farming.
Instead of using drains from dug wells or nearby reservoirs to water their farms, farmers have been trained to lay water lines and use micro-sprinklers and dripping, known as High Efficiency Irrigation Systems (HIES).
HIES include drips and bubbler irrigation, which ensure efficiency of water use and conserve more than half of the water lost in traditional farming methods.
Dug wells and water tanks are located at higher elevations than the cultivated parts of farms, and where farmers would have relied on electric water pumps to feed water to their farms, they now use switch-on motors powered by solar energy.