"Agrivoltaics can resolve the land-use conflict between India's food security and renewable energy goals." Critically examine.

Agrivoltaics (AgriPV) means growing crops and generating solar power on the same plot. The panels sit on stilts above the crops or between crop rows. A GIS-based screening found 47.35 million ha of "restricted cropland" suitable for it [1]. So AgriPV can ease the food–energy land conflict, but it cannot yet resolve it.

How AgriPV eases the conflict

• Dual land use: the farmer keeps the land in farming instead of giving it up to a solar park. At Issapur (Delhi), the Parliamentary Estimates Committee compared stilt-based and ground-mounted models on land use [3].
• Large potential: six states (Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh) hold nearly half of the AgriPV potential [1].
• Income and yield: the farmer earns from crops and from surplus power. Speakers at the 7th AgriVoltaics World Conference cited 10–20% yield gains [2].
• Policy push: a large AgriPV programme was announced for the next phase of PM-KUSUM [2].

Why it cannot yet "resolve" the conflict

• Small base: only 36 projects (37.54 MW) were running in August 2025 [1].
• Weak parent scheme: Component-A had installed only 641 MW of its 10,000 MW target by July 2025. Farmers stayed away because there was no central financial assistance and converting farmland to non-farm use costs money [4].
• Unreliable buyer: in 2022-23, only 15 states met their renewable purchase obligations [5]. The second income depends on a DISCOM agreeing to buy the power.
• Thin yield evidence: the 10–20% gain is a conference claim. The Estimates Committee itself asked for a study of AgriPV's effect on crops and income [4]. Without a minimum yield rule, a solar plant could grow a few token crops and still claim to be "AgriPV".
• Water stress: standalone solar pumps have increased groundwater extraction [6]. The ban on new solar pumps in dark zones covers only areas the CGWB has notified [7].

Overall, AgriPV is a strong tool for suitable crops in suitable regions, but it does not replace utility-scale solar on wasteland. The next phase of PM-KUSUM needs:

• a legal definition of AgriPV with a minimum crop yield;
• a land-conversion waiver for certified plots;
• binding obligations on DISCOMs to buy the power;
• groundwater-linked limits on pumping;
• crop-wise yield data from the NISE–IARI Centre of Excellence.

With these safeguards, AgriPV can serve SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 7 (Clean Energy) together. It would then substantially ease the food–energy land conflict, though not fully resolve it.