Discuss how integrating decentralised solar with agriculture can address the food–energy–land trilemma. Refer to PM-KUSUM.

India must feed its people and cut carbon from its power supply on limited land. The average landholding is only 0.96 ha, and over 85% of farmers are small or marginal [1]. Combining decentralised solar with farming lets one plot produce both crops and clean power. This can be done through agrivoltaics ("one land, two harvests") and PM-KUSUM, and it eases the trilemma.

How integration addresses the trilemma

• Land: Panels on stilts above crops mean farmland is not taken out of use. A TERI study puts the technical potential at 47.5 Mha, about 30% of India's cropland [1]. PM-KUSUM Component A funds plants of up to 2 MW on farmers' land [2].
• Energy: Power generated close to where it is used reduces transmission losses and diesel use. Component B covers standalone pumps, and Component C solarises grid-connected pumps and feeders [2]. PM-KUSUM added 7.6 GW of decentralised solar last year [1].
• Food and income: Shade can raise yields of some crops by 10–20% and cut water use by about 30% [1]. Surplus power sold to DISCOMs gives a second income, so the farmer becomes both "Annadata" and "Urjadata" [1].
• Water: Payment for surplus power rewards farmers for pumping less. NITI Aayog and the World Bank examined this idea under the theme "Grow Solar, Save Water, Double the Farm Income" [5].

Constraints

• Slow uptake on farmland: Component A had installed only about 641 MW of its 10,000 MW target by July 2025. A parliamentary committee cited the lack of central assistance and the cost of converting land use [3].
• Finance and grid: MNRE reports slow bank loans and no land available near substations [4].
• Groundwater: Almost free solar power can lead to over-pumping if use is not metered.
• Smallholder economics: Stilt structures cost almost as much on tiny plots. Yield gains are proven only for some crops [1].

Way forward

• Group smallholders through FPOs. Train rural youth and women to run and maintain the systems [1].
• Locate projects near substations, mandis and cold chains [1][4].
• Extend central assistance to Component A, as the committee recommended [3]. Link subsidies to metering and to local groundwater levels.
• Publish pilot results crop by crop before scaling up.

Decentralised solar can turn the trade-off between food, energy and land into mutual gain, with PM-KUSUM as the platform for delivery. With finance, grid access and water safeguards fixed, farmers can also become energy producers, advancing SDGs 2, 7 and 15 and India's net-zero 2070 goal.