" Our life runs on diesel because, without it, our fields go fallow," said Gauri Mahato of Sarlahi district, who cultivates paddy in the rainy season and wheat, mustard and vegetables in winter.

For years, most farmers in Nepal's Tarai have been using diesel pumps to pump water for irrigation, fishponds and other agricultural purposes.

According to various government estimates, there are 80,000 to 100,000 irrigation pumps in the country – most of them in the Tarai – of which more than 80 per cent run on diesel.

With limited access to electricity – that too plagued with irregular supply and rapidly fluctuating voltages – farmers are left with no choice. Unaware of the serious consequences of fossil fuels on climate change, farmers who can afford a diesel pump own and use them without a second thought.

"There is no cheaper alternative," said Ram Sahani of Rautahat when asked why he uses diesel pumps for irrigation.

The key here is the lack of clean energy sources at affordable prices, and that is where a potential solution lies.

In 2016, the Government of Nepal started a subsidised solar irrigation programme. Through the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC),the government provides a 60 per cent subsidy to install solar-powered pumps.

Tilllast year, more than 2,000 farmers have received a subsidised solar pump. Farmers are expected to pay the remaining 40 per cent of the total cost, which can be as high as one lakh Nepali rupees, but most farmers do not have to pay at all.

Solar companies, subcontracted by AEPC for pump installation, could offer the pumps at a much lower price due to declining market prices.

In addition, most farmers received additional support from the local Palika offices.

"I did not pay anything for the pump, but I spent five thousand rupees for preparing the ground for pump installation," said Chandra Kurmi of Parsa district.

A survey conducted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), with financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, found that more than 40 per cent of the farmers received solar pumps for free.

Giving farmers a source of clean energy in the villages is a critical step to reducing the use of diesel pumps and eventually replacing them. But the government's objective was to provide subsidised pumps to the needy farmers and encourage more affluentfarmers to make the switch independently.

A research team led by IWMI's Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience (So- LAR) project spent two years finding out who had received the subsidised (and in most cases free) so-lar pumps. The findings are intriguing.

Despite AEPC's efforts to provide the pumps to marginal farmers, such as women, the poor and ethnic minorities, the majority of the solar pumps went to farmers who are better off both socially and economi-cally.

What's more puzzling is that the government agency leading the solar programme had paid careful attention while selecting the farmers for receiving the pumps. Still, the list of farmers they selected did not represent true farmer diversity.

Since the list of farmers was put together by multiple agencies, including solar firms, Palika officers and local agents, only the farmers who had better social connections with them made it to the list.

Other issues partly responsible for the disproportional allocation of solar pumps were limited communication and transparency about the programme.

The government advertised the programme in the national newspapers, radio and television in Nepali. However, most marginalised farmers were unaware of the programme because neither did they have access to radio or TV nor could they read the newspapers.

In addition, a fixed 60 per cent subsidy rate for everyone, irrespective of their socio-economic status, might have incentivised large-scale farmers to apply for the programme.

The research study, published in a high-impact Energy Research and Social Science journal, provides recommendations for better subsidy targeting. It suggests that the federal government delegate the task of reaching out to diverse farmers to local governments instead of sub-contracting it to solar firms.

It may also be worthwhile to replace the current fixed subsidy (60 per cent) with a variable subsidy scheme offering higher subsidies to poor farmers and farmers from targeted groups, such as women, ethnic minorities and the like.

Advertising the programme in the local languages (for example Maithili and Bhojpuri) will also help encourage more marginalised farmers to avail of the subsidised solar irrigation pumps.

Kafle is an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University, Texas, USA and Mukherji is a Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), New Delhi, India

A version of this article appears in the print on October 12, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.