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Water
The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) contains the headwaters of ten large Asian river systems, whose basins are the lifeblood of 1.9 billion people, a fourth of the world’s population. In Pakistan, perennial glacier-fed rivers carve through the mountainous regions but mountain farmers lack proper access to sufficient water for irrigation. The rugged, undulating terrain coupled with the lack of irrigation infrastructure makes it difficult to harvest water from the rivers. Downstream, farmers dependent on rainfall for farm irrigation are extremely vulnerable to climate change induced drought and unpredictable rainfall.
Due to increasingly erratic rainfall, farmers in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan, have been struggling to irrigate their farms. In the Soan River basin, farmers mostly grow a single type of crop over large areas, and unfavourable rains can destroy the entire season’s crops. Without good irrigation infrastructure, the region’s agricultural productivity and farmers’ incomes are both affected.
To supplement their year-round irrigation water needs, as an alternative, the farmers have turned to rivers and streams that are farther away, or to groundwater. However, the process of pumping water from these sources can be expensive for small and medium sized farms. Buying or renting conventional diesel and electric pumps can be very costly. Moreover, diesel-powered pumps emit large quantities of smoke into the environment.
Reliable and affordable irrigation technologies can help farmers, such as those in Rawalpindi, make the most of available water, increasing their production and income. While very little can be done to erratic and deficit rainfall, scalable and accessible technologies to enhance irrigation can help farmers meet their agricultural water needs. One such example is the solar pump.
A solar powered water pump has an electrical pump system in which electricity is provided by one or several solar panels that powers an electric motor, which in turn powers a bore or surface pump. The water is pumped from the ground or stream into a storage tank that then allows for gravity-fed irrigation.
Farmers can have access to water throughout the year as the pump is designed to keep in mind the rate of discharge, total available sunshine hours, and potential evapotranspiration. It can either be fixed in a certain location or made portable to be shared by several farmers. Solar pumps also allow the use of drip irrigation and micro sprinklers, allowing the water extracted to be used more efficiently.
Furthermore, solar pumps reduce the reliance on fuel and electricity for farming and other purposes. They can be used as a power source for geysers to heat water, for energy-efficient cookstoves and to power lights or other equipment to help farms run more sustainably. The pumps can also be used in places with unreliable electricity or in areas outside the electrical grid coverage.
Solar powered pumps:
The pilot in Chakri village has received widespread attention and appreciation in the Rawalpindi region. Government officials, researchers, and the community have expressed interest in adapting the technologies and practices in their own areas as well.
The solar pumps and the climate-smart practices has allowed farming in Chakri village to become more sustainable in the face of climate change and water scarcity. Better water management has further allowed farmers to diversify their production by growing off-season crops. In the longer-run, the pumps are expected to improve farm production, soil nutrients and crop diversity. Since women in the region are often tasked with fetching water, these pumps reduce the time and effort required to fetch water.
Each of the RMS solutions are linked to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) outlined by the UN in 2015. This intervention contributes to SDG Goal 2: The global aim to end hunger, aided directly by intervention in agro-production efficiency.
