Impact evaluation of solar powered polyhouses: a case study for Jaipur district of Rajasthan
Student name: Mr Yuvraj Sharma
Guide: Dr Eshita Gupta
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: TERI University
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Ms Ranjana Ray Chaudhuri
Abstract: The agricultural sector in India finds itself increasingly under pressure in two vital resources of
land and water as it struggles to feed the growing population. With virtually almost all cultivable
land already being farmed, the agricultural growth now depends on increasing resource
productivity to be its main engine of growth. A new form of specialized protected cultivation
technology is emerging in the Indian agricultural sector in the form of polyhouses which may
offer some solutions. Polyhouse cultivation offers protection to crops against biotic and abiotic
stresses and reduces farmer’s dependency on natural factors like rainfall. The Rajasthan
Agriculture Department is actively promoting polyhouse cultivation through subsidy schemes.
Initially the adopter farmers cultivated in open field conditions and used an electric pump for
irrigation purposes. With the inception of these subsidy schemes two kinds of adopters came into
being. The first type of adopters installed a subsidized polyhouse and used their existing electric
pump for irrigation and the second type of adopters installed a subsidized polyhouse in
combination with a subsidized solar pump for irrigation. This paper is an attempt to make a
comparison between the two types of adopters. The empirical evidence from the Jaipur district in
this study suggests that polyhouse adoption in general has both private benefits as well as social
benefits. The social benefit is much greater in case of a solar powered polyhouse adoption with
the private benefit remaining the same. The findings of this study could help shape the future
subsidy schemes to enable a more environmentally sustainable and highly resource productive
form of agriculture.
