Installation of new solar-powered irrigation systems in Andhra Pradesh, India
Location
India
Utakallu, Mandlipalli and Dugumarri villages, in the Gooty, Utakallu, Mandipalli and Dugumarri areas.
Beneficiaries
70 families in the Utakallu, Mandlipalli and Dugumarri villages, which thanks to the installation of solar-powered drip irrigation systems will obtain savings in water and the independence from fossil fuels, thus reducing production costs and increasing the fruit and vegetable productivity.
Duration
September 2015 - September 2016
Problems
Most of the population of a large part of the Andhra Pradesh state only has agriculture as a means of subsistence. This is a rather problematic circumstance, as the scarce and irregular rainfall, along with the lack of water management infrastructures, leads owners to abandon the idea of farming their land due to the high cost and the limited prospect of success. Therefore, in view of the lack of work, the poorer inhabitants of the district are compelled to migrate to the large cities, where very precarious conditions in shacks await them, heading towards poverty and sickness.
Objectives
Main Target: To improve the irrigation systems for agricultural purposes in lands belonging to farmers with limited financial resources in the Andhra Pradesh district.
Specific Targets:
Short Term: Installation of solar-powered drip irrigation systems for the irrigation of arable land in the Utakallu, Mandlipalli and Dugumarri villages.
Medium Term: To increase the availability of water by means of the installation of efficient micro-irrigation systems.
Long term: To increase agricultural productivity. To empower farmers.
Description
Drip irrigation consists in the drop by drop irrigation of plants close to the root. Water is supplied by means of closed central pipes and lateral pipes. This method reduces the waste of water, something the inhabitants of Andrha Pradesh cannot afford.
The water pumping systems may be diverse, but it has been established that solar energy presents different advantages that make it the most suitable method for this area in rural India. For this reason, the project includes the installation of photovoltaic facilities that make the most of solar energy to drive the pumps that draw water from the subsoil and allow the activation of the drip systems.
India is located in the so-called sun belt of the Earth, with Anantapur being of the districts that receives more solar energy. In view of this, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation is introducing in the villages it works in these photovoltaic solar energy systems that replace the existing ones that were driven by fossil fuels.
What are the advantages of solar energy generators?
- Once the traditional diesel pumps are replaced by solar energy generators in all new drip and spray irrigation systems, CO2 emissions and the dependence on fossil fuels are eliminated.
- Thanks to the creation of these infrastructures, the availability of water for irrigation is ensured and within the reach of small owners of arable land.
- Production costs are reduced, thus increasing the profitability of agricultural production and the diversification of crops.
What will we do?
We will install new solar-powered irrigation systems, drip irrigation systems and five photovoltaic panels in the Gooty, Nallacheruvu and Narpal areas, in the B.K. Samudram and Kadiri regions, in particular in the Utakallu, Mandlipalli and Dugumarri villages.
With the solar-powered drip irrigation system we will be able to cover an extension of 16.65 hectares of land, owned by 14 small farmers with a low socio-economic profile.
