Oorja: Solarizing Agriculture

Smallholder farmers in the Indo-Gangetic plains of northern India are on the frontlines of the agrarian and climate crisis. In this impoverished region, rural people have long relied on agriculture for their food security and livelihoods. High input costs, environmental degradation and climate change are now reducing their agricultural productivity, with the average smallholder household earning an irregular income of less than USD 100 per month.

Due to weak access to grid electricity and a lack of reliable, affordable and clean energy sources, farmers rely heavily on diesel engines, notably for irrigation and agro-processing. This is both operationally expensive and environmentally destructive. Only 65% of farms have the reliable electricity connections needed for energy-intensive activities.

Given their dependence on agriculture and limited access to capital, the region’s rural poor are highly vulnerable to volatile weather and have little scope to adapt to climate change and climate-induced extreme weather events like flooding and drought.

Targeting rural areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states, Oorja aims to promote sustainable agriculture and renewable energy by offering solar-powered irrigation and milling services as well as climate-smart advisory support to poor smallholder farmers. Through its unique pay-per-use business model, customers can access the following services at affordable prices while avoiding the up-front cost of acquiring technology:

• On-farm solar photovoltaic pumps installed, owned and operated by Oorja plus pay-per-use irrigation
• Pay-per-use agro-processing of wheat, rice, pulses and spices into food products using multipurpose pulverisers, which are physically integrated with solar pumps to maximise energy efficiency
• Climate-smart farm advisory support, available to irrigation customers free of charge, from trained agronomists to promote sustainable, profitable and resource-efficient agricultural practices

Oorja makes solar power accessible, affordable, reliable and convenient for low-income marginalised farmers. It also ensures that solar assets are operated and maintained for their full lifetime of 20 years.

The primary aims of this project are to scale up the pay-per-use solar irrigation and milling services and to expand and digitize the climate-smart advisory services. By installing 200 new solar pumps and 25 solar mills in at least 50 villages, Oorja will expand both its customer base and the revenue generation potential of its deployed solar assets by 220% over two years. It expects to reach a total of 4 250 new customers and to benefit 31 450 additional people by early 2026. Farmers are expected to increase their productivity by 30% and double their income.

The copyright for all images displayed lies with Oorja.