Solar energy has overtaken diesel as the leading power source for agricultural irrigation in Pakistan, marking one of the country’s biggest shifts in farm energy use, according to the 7th Agricultural Census 2024 conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The census shows that Pakistan now has 1.83 million tubewells and lift pumps, nearly double the 930,000 recorded in 2004, representing the largest increase since independence.
While the total number of irrigation pumps surged, diesel-powered units fell by 36 percent, dropping from 833,953 in 2004 to 530,500 in 2024. As a result, diesel’s share of Pakistan’s irrigation system has declined from nearly 90 percent two decades ago to less than 30 percent today.
The biggest beneficiary has been solar energy. Absent from the 2004 census, solar-powered irrigation systems now total 959,865 units, accounting for 52 percent of all tubewells and lift pumps in the country. These include 912,327 solar tubewells and 47,538 solar lift pumps.
Electric-powered irrigation has also expanded rapidly, with the number of electric pumps increasing 320 percent to 407,887 over the same period.
Punjab led the transition, with 862,238 solar tubewells compared to 331,059 diesel-powered units. In Sindh, solar-powered tubewells also outnumber diesel units.
However, diesel remains the dominant source of irrigation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where limited electricity infrastructure and deeper groundwater levels continue to make diesel-powered pumps more practical. Balochistan alone accounts for 123,495 diesel-powered tubewells, more than 80 percent of the province’s total.
The census highlights a fundamental transformation in Pakistan’s agricultural energy landscape, driven largely by farmers’ adoption of solar technology amid rising diesel costs. While the shift is expected to reduce fuel expenses and lower dependence on imported energy, it also raises concerns over increased groundwater extraction as solar-powered irrigation significantly reduces the cost of pumping water.
