Solar power a boon to Kadiyam nursery farmers
They get subsidy on panels and uninterrupted seven hours of power supply
Small and marginal farmers in Kadiyam mandal of East Godavari district raising nurseries have tasted success with solar power. The pilot project of the government, which gives them subsidy and uninterrupted free power for seven hours a day, has enthused them.
Horticulture Department officials say the scheme was likely to be extended to 2,000 farmers in the mandal.
In Kadiyam mandal, nurseries are cultivated in about 5,000 acres. Thousands of varieties of plants are exported from villages to other states and countries. Farmers of these nurseries have been getting free power for the last 12 years.
In the last three years, the government has been supplying uninterrupted power supply to the nurseries free of cost benefiting about 10,000 farmers.
The government plans to supply power at a price to big farmers in the mandal who have more than 100 acres.
In the last six months, solar panels have been given on subsidy rates on a pilot basis in about 500 acres out of 5,000 acres in the total Kadiyam mandal.
Under this scheme, the farmer has to install bore well on his own and the government will provide ₹4.55 lakh worth solar panels for only ₹55,000 to farmers having three to five acres. The farmer will get seven hours of power supply automatically by installing solar power panels from day one of installation.
Bore well at own cost
Pilli Apparao, who has an acre of land in Kadiyapu Lanka village, has raised a nursery. Power supply to his farm was being frequently interrupted earlier. After he dug a borewell and paid ₹55,000 towards solar power panels, he started getting seven hours of uninterrupted power supply regularly from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Palla Venkatesh of Sri Satyanarayana Nursery Gardens said that the solar power scheme benefited small and marginal farmers who had less than five acres. If one owned more than that, he should divide the land and register one in his name and another in his wife’s name to get subsidy on solar panels.
Source: THE HINDU