Energy Saving Technology for Agriculture

Agriculture occupies a significant position in the socio-demographic aspects in Indian economy. Currently it supports directly and indirectly around 54% of the population, as compared to nearly 75% at the time of independence (Malhotra, 2019). The early years of post- independence was marked by ‘ship-to-mouth’ food crisis.

Thanks to the visionary stalwarts of agriculture sector comprising of political leaders, scientists in ICAR, SAUs and CAUs as well as commendable contributions from private sectors besides our farmers- ‘Anna Data’, our country stands among the top producers of wheat, rice, pulses, sugarcane, cotton, milk, fruits and vegetables. We have seen success of Green Revolution that provides ‘food security’ to Golden Revolution that envision ‘nutritional security’.

During 2024-25 (MoA&FW, 2026a & b), the production statistics (million tonnes) for Indian agriculture are quite impressive: foodgrains (357.73), horticultural crops (369.05), milk (239.23), meat (102.53), and fish (18.40). While the contribution all stakeholders deserves appreciation for such achievements, it is also needed to acknowledge the pressure being exerted by various farming activities on the soil and environment. Correspondingly, the consumption of energy (traditional fuels, non-renewable and renewable energy) in agricultural sector keeps on increasing exponentially, more particularly in the last few decades. Thus, it is high time to develop such technologies and to explore strategies that would save ‘energy’ meant for agriculture.

Energy dependent farming activities

We need to acknowledge that Green Revolution during the late 1960s could not have realized without the projects such as Hirakund and Bhakra Dam (MoP, 2026). Availability of water source is not enough. It is equally essential to bring the water to farmers’ field when the crops need it during their critical phases of growth. Mechanization in farming had made significant contribution in the country’s agricultural growth trajectory. Attempts to achieve year- round crop production was made possible with the promotion of protected structures viz. Green Houses, Poly Houses, Poly Tunnels, etc. and enhancing improved irrigation systems. Directly or indirectly all these approaches revolve around ‘energy’ as highlighted in Table-1. Accordingly, to the agency “India Energy”, diesel consumption reported under agriculture is less, as a significant proportion is categorized under Reseller/ Retailer category.

The Central Electricity Authority, New Delhi described that agriculture sector consumed around 19.29% of the total electricity consumption in the country (MoA&FW, 2026b). However, the consumption share is up to 23.59% (Punjab), 24.10% (Maharashtra), 38.60% (Rajasthan) or 39.32% (Madhya Pradesh). In certain ways, higher extent of electricity consumption in agricultural sector corresponds to more area and production in the related ventures, with no direct implication on productivity. This is being substantiated with the fact that in the USA, energy input in agriculture sector accounts for 17% of total energy consumed (Bora et al., 2012).

Energy saving technologies and strategies

On account of the population pressure and health-conscious consumers’ lifestyle, there would be consistent increase in demand for quality foodgrains and other agricultural commodities. This in turn exerts unintended pressure on soil, environment and energy demand. Therefore, it is appropriate to have technologies and strategies that would reduce energy requirement for a sustainable agriculture in the long term as discussed in the subsequent sections.

GPS guidance and autosteering systems

Extensive commercial farming practices in larger land areas are norms in developed countries like USA. The similar agricultural practices have been adopted in limited scale in few states in India. In a study conducted in North Dakota (USA), Bora et al (2012) had found that 34% farms adopted GPS guidance systems resulting in reduced machine time and fuel consumption by 6.04 and 6.32% respectively. Autosteering systems were adopted farmers in 27% of the farms resulted in further reduction in machine time by 5.7% and fuel consumption by 5.3%. Quantitatively, GPS guidance and autosteering systems could save around 1647 and 1866 litre of fuel per farm respectively corresponding to USD 734 and 851 respectively.

Therefore, it is advisable to adopt such technologies for farm vehicles in larger farms in the country. The constraint in the Indian farming condition is the prevalence of fragmented land holdings as well as availability of cheap labours in villages.

Motor systems for irrigation pumping

There are many farm machineries that rely of motors (different variants, types and capacities), one among the most common being those associated with irrigation system. In such machineries, moto optimization and audit programs indicate potential savings of energy up to 30% (Brown and Elliott, 2005). It is always advisable to procure machines with energy efficient irrespective of comparatively higher investment. The situation reiterates the old adage ‘Cheaper things often come with a heavy price’.

Drying, curing, sorting, grading, processing and packaging.

There are tremendous possibilities to utilized energy efficient machineries and adoption of solar powered facilities to save energy.

Solar / photovoltaic panels

In recent time, it has become an essential farming component to incorporate PV solar mini-power plants that help in operating irrigation systems and many other equipment.

Heating, cooling systems, ventilation protected cultivation

The most important component with respect to saving energy in such facilities is the quality of insulating materials and sub-components. The requirement for heating systems is associated with the crop production in temperate regions including cold arid zones. On the other hand, cooling systems and facilities are essentially required for the crop production facilities in tropical, subtropical, hot arid and semi-arid zones.

In the context of Indian agriculture, the crop production systems can be targeted in such a way that different crops and their varieties in appropriate Agro-climatic zones as defined/ described by ICAR, NITI Ayog and respective SAUs & CAUs. This would lessen the burden of requiring facilities that demand energy to establish, operate and maintain. This aspect comes under the provision of precision farming.

Lighting systems for farming activities

Reduction of energy with regards to lighting would include, without limiting to, compact fluorescent lights, LED lightings, high intensity discharge retrofits, occupancy sensors, day lighting

controls, and timer controls. It is estimated that the combined measures could result in savings of energy between 40 and 70%, based on the individual lighting applications (Brown and Elliott, 2005).

On-site transportation and machineries

There is feasibility of savings energy in this sector based on commercially available technologies and practices. For instance, use of ropeways, pulley-based systems within the garden and orchards, adoption of bullock-carts etc also result in energy savings with regards to on-site transportation.

Choice of resilient crops, rootstocks and varieties

The cultivation of sensitive crops and susceptible varieties towards pests and diseases compel farmers to adopt for different plant protection measures thereby demand for energy increases to manyfold. With special reference to fruits and nut crop production, utilizing benefits of rootstocks that are tolerant to various abiotic stress and resistance to different biotic stresses prove to reduce dependency on many horticultural practices that demand energy.

Energy saving electric equipment

Kondrateva et al. (2019) developed an energy and cost-efficient LED irradiator for meristematic potato plants in Russia. Their innovation technique reduced electrical energy consumption by 70-80% and decreased the periods of potato plant growing in test tubes by four days.

Conclusion

The increase in population will happen thereby demand for food. Food grain production is facing a newer challenge from the unprecedented higher demand for meat, milk, egg, fruits, vegetables etc both for direct consumption and as raw materials for the emerging processing industries. This in turn result in tremendous increase in need for energy leading to crisis. Even though, primary agriculture contributes approximately 18% of Indian’s GDP, the contribution from secondary agriculture as well as its relatedness to other sectors of economy- industrial and services cannot be ignored. Therefore, all the stakeholders in the agriculture as a whole ought to develop, explore and adopt such technologies and strategies that would result in significant reduction in energy consumption.