The arrival of the boro rice season used to bring anxiety for Taijul Islam. Boro cultivation takes place during the dry season, when there is little or no rainwater available. Like most parts of the country, farmers in his area depend on groundwater for irrigation. Taizul lives in Dhitpur village of Bhaluka upazila in Mymensingh.

For him, the biggest challenge in irrigating his fields was availing diesel. Although a group of farmers jointly purchased a water pump, obtaining diesel, transporting it from town, storing it, and coping with constantly fluctuating prices proved difficult.

If irrigation was not provided on time, the soil in the fields would often crack. Speaking on a scorching afternoon in the Bengali month of Jyaishtha, Taijul said, “There’s no certainty about fuel prices. Sometimes they go up, sometimes down. If we couldn’t irrigate the paddy on time, the soil would crack open.”

That dependence on diesel is beginning to change in Dhitpur. Water from the Sutia River, which flows beside the village, is now being pumped using solar energy to irrigate farmland. At least 70 farmers, including Taijul, are benefiting from the system.

The solar-powered irrigation pump is only one component of a broader initiative. Farmers are also being provided with a huller (rice milling machine), a solar dryer for drying paddy, and solar-powered threshing equipment. In addition, a small cold-storage facility capable of holding two tonnes of crops has been established, also powered by solar energy.

“There are many benefits in one place,” Taijul summed the initiatives up.