Opium farmers use solar panels to increase crops

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"It's just how opium poppy is farmed now," Mr Brittan tells me. "They drill down 100m (325ft) or so to the ground water, put in an electric pump and wire it up to a few panels and bingo, the water starts flowing."

Take-up of this new technology was very rapid.

The first report of an Afghan farmer using solar power came back in 2013.

The following year traders were stocking a few solar panels in Lashkar Gah, the Helmandi capital.

Since then growth has been exponential. The number of solar panels installed on farms has doubled every year.

By 2019 Mr Brittan's team had counted 67,000 solar arrays just in the Helmand valley.

In Lashkar Gah market, solar panels are now stacked in great piles three storeys high.

...

It is easy to understand why trade has been so brisk.

Solar has transformed the productivity of farms in the region.

I've got a video shot a couple of weeks ago on an opium farm in what used to be desert.

The farmer shows us his two arrays of 18 solar panels. They power the two electric pumps he uses to fill a large reservoir.

He films the small canal that allows him to use the water to irrigate his land. All around, his fields seem to be flourishing.

He harvested his opium crop in May; now he is growing tomatoes.
"Solar has changed everything for these farmers," says Dr David Mansfield as we watch the video.

Dr Mansfield is the author of the report. He has been studying opium production in Afghanistan for more than 25 years and tells me the introduction of solar is by far the most significant technological change he has seen in that time.

Buying diesel to power their ground water pumps used to be the farmers' biggest expense.

"And it isn't just the cost," Dr Mansfield continues. "The diesel in these remote areas is heavily adulterated so pumps and generators keep breaking down. That's a huge problem for farmers."

Now it is very different.

For an upfront payment of $5,000 they can buy an array of solar panels and an electric pump. Once it is installed, there are virtually no running costs.

It is a lot of money, he concedes - the average dowry is $7,000 - but the boost to productivity is enormous and any loan is usually paid back within a couple of years.

"From then on, water is effectively free," he says.

It means they can grow far more poppy - as well as other crops.

Many farms now get two harvests a year - some even get three.

And that's not the only breakthrough. Using solar also means farmers can grow poppy in places where they never would have considered farming before.

Into the desert
Back in his office in Guildford, Richard Brittan calls up a new screen on his computer.

It shows the entire Helmand valley.

He superimposes an image showing the area under cultivation in 2012.

Then, farmers were working 157,000 hectares.

A series of images show how this changed over time.

You can see the farms spreading out into the desert as farmers start using solar.

It looks like a fungus growing. But this is on a huge scale.

The area under cultivation has been increasing by tens of thousands of hectares every year.

By 2018 it had doubled to 317,000 hectares.

In 2019 it was 344,000 hectares.

"And it is continuing to grow," he says.

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newworldafro

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Using clean, renewable, one time loan of.solar panels to obtain water to grow more diverse crops in more places

:hula:

Using clean, renewable, one time loan of.solar panels to obtain water to grow more crops, that includes more opium.
 
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With the right agriculture in place, they could produce more produce and less poppy.

physical-map-of-afghanistan.gif
 
Kenny West

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:ehh: cool application of the technology. Doesn't humidity play a factor on whether some crops can grow in some areas? If so, do you think this tech could handle that too?
 
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Kenny West said:
:ehh: cool application of the technology. Doesn't humidity play a factor on whether some crops can grow in some areas? If so, do you think this tech could handle that too?
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Dunno. Though the humidity is more of an issue with the crops as opposed to the panels.
 
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