Solar-powered irrigation pumps (SPIPs)have been promoted in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) inrecent decades, but rates of adoption are low. This casestudy assesses the evidence from several solar pump businessmodels being adopted in parts of the EGP, particularlyeastern Nepal and northern India, and explores how differentmodels perform in various contexts. It documents lessons forincreasing farmers’ resilience to droughts through bettergroundwater use by promotion of SPIPs. Groundwater accessfor agriculture in the past was dependent on diesel andelectric pumps, respectively constrained by costs andreliability of energy. Both government and nongovernmentagencies have promoted SPIPs in the Ganges basin forirrigation and drinking purposes. SPIPs receive differentlevels of subsidies across countries and states in theregion to facilitate adoption and ensure continuous andtimely irrigation, which particularly benefits small andmarginal farmers. Because the EGP faces variability in wateravailability, the SPIPs could help in building droughtresilience. However, because low operating costs for SPIPsdoes little to incentivize farmers to use water efficiently,one critical question is how to balance equitable access toSPIPs while ensuring groundwater overdraft is notperpetuated. Farmers’ awareness of efficient watermanagement options is crucial to avoid overextraction of groundwater.
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