Impact of Solar Powered Irrigation System on Socio Economic Status of Farmers in Southern Rajasthan

Abstract

newline In view of the increasing energy requirement, rising fuel prices and newlineenvironmental imbalance, application of renewable energy in agriculture has become newlinea priority for sustainable development of rural areas. Among the renewable energy newlinerelated technologies, solar powered irrigation system is being seen as a clean, low cost newlineand suitable solution to meet the irrigation demand of farmers, especially in areas newlinewhere there is unavailability of grid power or their dependence on costly diesel. newlineSouthern Rajasthan has a semi-arid climate where the major occupation of farmers is newlineagriculture based which indicates the need for use of solar powered irrigation system newlinein a large area. Keeping this point in view, the present study titled Impact of solar newlinepowered irrigation system on socio-economic status of farmers in Southern newlineRajasthan was carried out with the following objectives: newline1. newline2. newline3. newline4. newline5. newlineTo study the knowledge of farmers about solar powered irrigation system. newlineTo study the attitude of farmers towards solar powered irrigation system. newlineTo ascertain the relationship between personnel profile and attitude of farmers newlinetowards solar powered irrigation system. newlineTo assess the impact of solar powered irrigation system in terms of cropping newlinepattern, yield obtained and economic status of farmers after adopting solar newlinepowered irrigation system. newlineTo identify the constraints faced by the farmers about solar powered irrigation newlinesystem and suggestion to overcome them. newlineThe study was conducted in Udaipur and Sirohi districts of Rajasthan state. newlineTwo tehsils were selected from each selected district. Thus, the total number of tehsils newlinewere four. Five villages were selected from each selected tehsil. Thus, the total newlinenumber of villages were twenty. Ten farmers were selected from each selected newlinevillage. Thus, the sample size was of 200. Data were collected from the farmers by using personal interview technique. The collected data were categorized, analyzed by newlineusing appropriate statistical measures and tabula