Influencing factors of adopting solar irrigation technology and its impact on farmers’ livelihood. A case study in Bangladesh

Sustainable irrigation access is considered critical for agricultural growth in Bangladesh, which vindicates the food and livelihood security. Solar powered irrigation system had emerged as promising technology to make sustainable irrigation in Bangladesh. This study examines the factors affecting the adoption of solar powered irrigation system and the impact of this technology on livelihood of farmer. To conduct this analysis, data were collected from Meherpur district of Bangladesh. Simple random sampling technique were used in this study for data collection. Probit model analysis was conducted to identify the socio economic factors responsible for adopting solar irrigation system. Capital and composite livelihood index were prepared to examine the impact of the solar powered irrigation system project on farmer’s livelihood. The result shows that education and extension service had statistically positive impact on adoption where access to credit, farm size and off farm income had significantly negative impact on adoption. The result also shows that farmers using solar powered irrigation technology had better livelihood index in different indicator i.e. human, social, natural, technical capital when compared with diesel powered irrigation system user. The positive and significant better scored in composite livelihood index value for solar irrigation system user proved that farmers using solar powered irrigation system had better livelihood compare to diesel powered irrigation system user.