Evaluating solar irrigation pumps for smallholder farmers

What is shaping energy

The energy transition brings rooftop solar, clean cooking, EV charging and efficient appliances to homes and businesses. Adoption depends on cost, trust, financing and after-sales support.

• Rooftop solar adoption depends on financing and installer trust
• Clean cooking programmes need sustained use, not just connections
• Businesses are setting their own transition targets

An agricultural development bank, working in Rajasthan & Maharashtra. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

An agricultural development bank

Sector

Energy

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Government research, Quantitative research, Financial modelling

The bank financed solar pumps for farmers and wanted to know whether they improved incomes and repayment, and whether the model could be scaled. Loan officers also wanted to know whether the pumps affected groundwater use.

• Deliver on the brief: evaluating solar irrigation pumps for smallholder farmers.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of farmers.
• Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 9 weeks.

The work focused on 1,200 farmers.

• farmers1,200

Audiences we typically reach in energy

HouseholdsSmall businessesInstallers and channel partnersProgramme beneficiariesEnergy managers

Coverage: Rajasthan & Maharashtra. Market: India.

• India

A structured analytical design combining desk research, modelling and primary evidence.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Farmer survey
3. 3Cost-benefit analysis
4. 4Insight

We surveyed farmers with and without solar pumps about irrigation, crops, diesel savings and incomes, and modelled costs and benefits over the life of the pumps. Interviews were conducted in Hindi and Marathi, and farmers’ irrigation records were checked where available.

Government researchQuantitative researchFinancial modelling

farmers

1,200

• Respondents were selected across Rajasthan & Maharashtra using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.

• Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person, supervised in the field.
• Secondary sources and client data were compiled and cross-checked before modelling.

• Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
• Time and location checks on field interviews
• Supervisor accompaniment in the field
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Market model built from secondary data and primary evidence

• Farmers with solar pumps saved on diesel and grew additional crops, improving repayment.
• Repayment rates were higher among farmers who adopted drip irrigation alongside solar pumps.

Combining survey data with economic modelling made the business case clear.

• Build on the core insight: combining survey data with economic modelling made the business case clear.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: farmers with solar pumps saved on diesel and grew additional crops, improving repayment.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The bank expanded financing with a focus on water-efficient irrigation practices.
• The bank also introduced guidance on water-efficient irrigation to address groundwater concerns.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Evaluation findings with programme recommendations

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: what holds back rooftop solar?