“Farmers as both food providers and energy producers: Integrating agriculture with solar power will increase farmers’ incomes”: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Indian farmers are set to become not merely ‘annadatas’ (food providers), but, by adopting solar energy, will truly emerge as both ‘annadatas and urjadatas’ (food and energy providers). Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day 7th AgriVoltaics World Conference as the keynote speaker at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Wednesday, Shri Chouhan said that integrating agriculture with solar energy was opening up a new pathway towards global welfare and greater economic prosperity for farmers. He stressed that the AgriVoltaics policy must be designed to work effectively on the fields of the country’s 85 per cent small and marginal farmers, ensuring that the benefits of this technology reached those who needed them most.

Welcoming delegates from India and abroad, along with the large number of farmers who had gathered at the venue, Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan explained that AgriVoltaics technology would enable solar panels to generate electricity above the ground while crops continued to flourish beneath them. Explaining the concept in simple, familiar terms, he described it as a model that delivers the best of both worlds, invoking the Hindi expressions ‘aam ke aam aur guthliyon ke daam’ and ‘hing lage na fitkari, rang bhi chokha’ to illustrate the multiple benefits of using the same land for agriculture and energy generation. He observed that while the traditional saying was ‘Rahiman paani raakhiye’ (preserve water), the needs of the modern age called for ‘Rahiman bijli raakhiye’ (preserve electricity), because modern life and agriculture would come to a standstill without power. Integrating energy production with farming, he said, was therefore one of the most important steps that could be taken in the interests of farmers.

Union Agriculture Minister Shri Shivraj Chouhan proudly highlighted India’s transformation from a country dependent on foodgrain imports to meet its food security requirements to one whose granaries were now overflowing with wheat and rice, thanks to the hard work and dedication of its farmers. Indian agriculture continues to maintain a robust growth rate of 4.5 per cent, which is a significant achievement in itself. Exports of agricultural products have reached a new record of US$52.55 billion, while sowing for the 2026–27 rabi season has recently commenced, with particular emphasis on pulses and oilseeds. He noted that these achievements reflected the progress made by Indian agriculture and underscored the importance of developing new approaches to sustain farmers’ prosperity while meeting the country’s evolving needs.