Solar pump irrigation system for green agriculture

Abstract

Ever increasing fuel cost and doubtful availability of electricity hampers the irrigated crop production. Solar pump may be an alternative for irrigation for crop production especially in the off-grid areas. This paper presents the technical and economic suitability of solar pump irrigations of rice and no-rice crops in Bangladesh. Four submersible solar pumps (1050 W_p) were installed in different locations for irrigating rice, wheat and vegetables. The solar pump was used for drip irrigation and furrow irrigation for cultivation of brinjal and tomato during the winter seasons of 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13. There were no significant differences of yields of brinjal between drip and furrow irrigations in the year 2010-11 in Gazipur and during 2011-12 in Jamalpur. But in 2012-13, significantly higher yield of brinjal was obtained from drip irrigated plots (43.86 t/ha) than furrow irrigated plots (38.60 t/ha). There were no significant differences of yields of tomato between drip and furrow irrigation methods in Jamalpur. Significantly higher yields of tomato were found in Gazipur from drip irrigated plots than those of furrow irrigated plots in both the year 2011-12 and 2012-13. Water savings by drip irrigation over furrow irrigation for brinjal and tomato were 53.25% and 56.16%, respectively. The yield of summer tomato had been found 33.73 t/ha in drip irrigated plot and 31.86 t/ha in furrow irrigated plot during the period of 2011-12. Waters required by drip and furrow irrigation methods were 225 mm and 429 mm, respectively. For cultivation of wheat about 430 mm water was required and the yield was 3.00 t/ha. Boro rice was cultivated in Magura and Barisal during 2011-12 and 2012-13. During the cropping season total water requirement for boro rice cultivation in Magura was 1024 mm and in Barisal it was 1481 mm. Cultivations of solar irrigated wheat (BCR 2.31), tomato (BCR 2.22) and brinjal (BCR 2.34) were economically profitable but cultivation of boro rice with solar pump was not economically profitable (BCR 0.31). Solar is an environmentally sound and green irrigation technology.