Context:

• India’s vision of Viksit Bharat must be anchored in the prosperity and resilience of its villages.
• Agrivoltaics (AgriPV)—the co-location of agriculture and solar power generation on the same land—offers an opportunity to increase farm incomes while advancing India’s clean-energy transition.
• The Government’s PM-KUSUM scheme has already promoted solarisation of irrigation.
• A separate focus on AgriPV in its next phase could further expand decentralised solar generation while keeping agricultural land productive.

Why Agrivoltaics Matters for Farmers?

• India’s small and marginal farmers constitute about 86% of operational holdings and remain vulnerable to weather shocks, rising input costs and volatile agricultural prices.
• A good harvest, therefore, does not necessarily translate into stable household income.
• AgriPV can strengthen farm resilience and income diversification by -
  • Providing farmers an additional revenue stream through electricity generation.
  • Reducing expenditure where solar power substitutes diesel or purchased electricity.
  • Creating a favourable microclimate that can protect crops from heat stress, drought, excessive solar radiation and hail.
  • Generating rural employment in installation, operation, maintenance and agricultural services.
• Thus, AgriPV can potentially combine food production, clean energy and rural economic development on the same land.

Conditions for Successful Adoption:

• Crop and design selection:
  • AgriPV cannot follow a one-size-fits-all model. Crop selection should consider shade tolerance, morphological plasticity, and stable productivity under intermittent radiation
  • Appropriate agronomic practices such as alley-based planting, adequate irrigation and nutrient management are equally important.
  • AgriPV designs should generally aim to ensure that crops receive around 70% or more of natural incoming radiation.
  • Adjustable solar panels can provide additional flexibility during radiation-sensitive stages of crop growth.
• Convergence across institutions:
  • Agriculture and energy policies must be planned together by Central and State governments, research institutions and local bodies.
  • Since farmers experience the combined impact of these decisions on a single holding, institutional coordination is essential.
  • AgriPV therefore requires a whole-of-government approach rather than isolated interventions by agricultural or energy departments.

Farmer Trust Must Remain Central:

• Technology alone cannot ensure adoption. Farmer-centric governance must underpin AgriPV projects.
• Farmers should clearly understand -
  • The terms of agreements and expected returns.
  • Who owns and operates the solar infrastructure.
  • Distribution of responsibilities, risks and benefits.
  • Safeguards for land ownership.
• The interests of tenant cultivators and women farmers must also be incorporated into project design and benefit-sharing mechanisms.
• Transparent procurement, appropriate financing and affordable structures are particularly important for making AgriPV viable for small landholdings. 

India’s Emerging Experience:

• India has already begun developing practical knowledge on AgriPV.
• For example,
  • ICAR–Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur has explored cultivation alongside solar generation and rainwater harvesting.
  • BAIF’s Rural Innovation Centre, Pune is testing different AgriPV configurations across crops.
  • In 2025, the Government established a 100-kW Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Agri-Photovoltaics at ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.
  • The CoE is jointly led by ICAR and the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• Data generated by the CoE over two years is expected to support technical recommendations on crop suitability, boundary conditions and optimal integration of solar panels with agricultural fields.

Global South and International Cooperation:

• India’s hosting of the 7th AgriVoltaics World Conference in New Delhi provides an opportunity to connect Indian experience with global research and innovation.
• The International Solar Alliance (ISA), launched by India and France, offers an existing platform for international cooperation.
• AgriPV can deepen such partnerships through joint field research, capacity building and training, technology and knowledge exchange, and development of locally suitable business and financing models.
• Countries facing simultaneous pressures of land scarcity, water stress and declining rural incomes could particularly benefit from AgriPV solutions adapted to their conditions.

Way Forward:

• For AgriPV to become a genuine instrument of rural transformation, India should focus on -
  • Evidence-based crop selection,
  • Affordable technology,
  • Farmer-friendly financing,
  • Transparent contracts,
  • Coordinated institutions and
  • Rigorous field testing.
• The objective should not merely be to increase solar capacity but to ensure that the Annadata participates meaningfully in the benefits of the energy transition.

Conclusion:

• Agrivoltaics can create a three-way synergy between agriculture, renewable energy and rural prosperity.
• If designed around farmer interests, it can diversify incomes, reduce energy costs, strengthen climate resilience and generate rural employment.
• For Viksit Bharat, the success of AgriPV will ultimately be measured not only in megawatts of solar power generated, but in whether small and marginal farmers gain greater confidence, resilience and economic opportunity.