Discuss the role of PM-KUSUM in decentralised solar adoption by farmers. What changes are needed to scale agrivoltaics beyond pilots?

PM-KUSUM, run by MNRE, is India's main route for making farmers solar users and power sellers. It has spread solar pumps widely. But its land-based component, the natural vehicle for agrivoltaics, has stalled: India has only 37.54 MW across 36 projects [1].

Role of PM-KUSUM in Decentralised Solar Adoption

• Component A: 10,000 MW of ground- or stilt-mounted plants on farmers' land. DISCOMs get 40 paise/kWh or ₹6.60 lakh/MW/year, whichever is lower, for five years [2].
• Component B: 14 lakh standalone solar pumps with 30% central aid (50% in NE and hill states), which cuts diesel use [2].
• Component C: solarises grid-connected pumps with PV up to twice pump capacity, so farmers can sell surplus power [2].
• Outcome: a PTC India evaluation found solar pumps raised farm incomes by around 40%. Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana lead [3].

Limitations

• Component A installed only about 641 MW by July 2025, against 10,000 MW [4].
• Farmers are put off by the lack of central financial assistance (CFA) and by land-conversion costs [4]. Uptake hinges on land and cheap finance [3].
• Raised structures and row spacing keep farming possible [5] but raise costs and cut power per acre.

Changes Needed to Scale Agrivoltaics

• Dedicated window: the government plans an agrivoltaics component in PM-KUSUM's next phase [6]. It should fund only crop-retaining designs and give CFA to small projects, as the Estimates Committee urged [4].
• Land rules: states should keep stilt-mounted plots classified as farmland and waive conversion charges.
• Finance: the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund's 3% interest subvention now covers Component A [7]. Banks need standard loan products for farmers, FPOs and cooperatives.
• Evidence first: benefits vary by crop, design and local conditions [1]. ICAR crop-by-region trials and the impact analysis the Committee recommended [4] must come before mass subsidy.
• Monitoring: report agrivoltaics separately from barren-land plants under Component A.

PM-KUSUM has made farmers energy users. Scaling agrivoltaics means making them energy producers without giving up the crop. A targeted subsidy, farm-friendly land rules, cheap credit and crop evidence can use the scheme's extension to March 2027 [3] to serve SDG 2 and SDG 7 together.