PURE platform for budget preparation of lift irrigation projects in Karnali

Background

Nepal’s agricultural sector employs over 60% of the labour force, yet the sector contributes only 24% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), largely due to limited productivity and inefficient resource use. Of the 2.5 million hectares of land suitable for irrigation, only 35% has year-round irrigation, making farmers highly dependent on seasonal rainfall and increasingly vulnerable to climate change. While surface and groundwater resources offer significant potential, Nepal’s predominantly mountainous terrain creates challenges for irrigation development, often necessitating energyintensive water-lifting solutions.

To address these challenges sustainably, the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), with support from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), developed the Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE) platform. This digital tool supports planning for renewable energy-powered river lift irrigation by integrating satellite imagery and field data into a decision-support system. By overlaying various geographic and infrastructural datasets, the platform enables effective site identification for irrigation projects. Although initial implementation has shown promise, there remains a critical need to build awareness and capacity among government and sectoral stakeholders to fully leverage the platform’s potential for enhancing irrigation services and supporting national development objectives. To address these gaps, this consultancy aims to sensitise policymakers, planners, government engineers, and other stakeholders on the platform’s functionalities. By fostering its integration into planning processes at the federal, provincial, and local levels, this initiative seeks to unlock PURE’s full potential in enhancing irrigation services and supporting Nepal’s broader development goals.

About the event

A two-day workshop is being organized in collaboration of ICIMOD, AEPC, and MoWRED on the implementation of the PURE platform. The event focuses on preparing the initial budget for all lift irrigation projects collected as demands at divisional offices across districts in Karnali Province.

Objectives

The objective of this workshop is to support the divisional engineers of Karnali Province in preparing the initial budget for demand-collected lift irrigation projects using the PURE Platform.

Expected Outcomes

• The report generated form PURE platform for the estimation of power and cost associated for lift irrigation projects.
• The strengthen of the divisional technical personnel to use PURE platform.
• Practical feedback and recommendations to support future upgrades and wider dissemination.