Impacts of farm electrification on irrigation costs and food crop yields in India’s smallholder agriculture

Abstract

Irrigation costs constitute a substantial share of crop production costs, which often hamper cash-strapped smallholders from applying sufficient water to achieve better crop yields. In Bihar, one of India’s major agrarian states characterized by smallholder-dominated cereal-based cropping system, a mega government-led intervention is transforming irrigation system by replacing costly diesel-powered irrigation pumps with electric ones. We evaluated the farm-level impacts of electrification on energy costs for irrigation, water management, and crop yields of the two principal food crops of the region, i.e., rice and wheat. Using survey data from 600 farmers, we applied propensity score-based Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW) to estimate causal impacts. Irrigation electrification reduced irrigation costs by three-fourths for rice and two-thirds for wheat. Irrigation cost reductions for wheat exhibited spatial heterogeneity, with larger benefits in areas where groundwater levels were deeper than 4.4 m. Lower irrigation costs led to increased irrigation intensity for both crops, with more pronounced effects for rice. Rice yields increased by 8% (382 kg ha −1 ) on average, with higher yield gains (> 500 kg ha −1 ) in areas with groundwater levels above 3.6 m. Wheat yields increased more uniformly across the state, by 6% (203 kg ha −1 ). These findings provide quantifiable evidence on the linkages between irrigation costs and agricultural productivity for key staple in smallholder systems, highlighting the moderating role of groundwater conditions within the context of the study area.