National Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Brainstorming Session on Agrivoltaics

The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) organized a brainstorming session on Agrivoltaics in India on August 20, 2024, at the NASC Complex in Delhi, under the Chairmanship of Dr.Himanshu Pathak, President, NAAS. The session was convened by Dr. A. K. Sikka, FNAAS and IWMI, Country Representative India and Bangladesh and co-convened by Dr. P. Santra, Head, NR Division, CAZRI, Jodhpurwith Dr. Rajbir Singh, ADG of the Natural Resource Management (NRM) division at ICAR, serving as the overall moderator.About 60 experts from various fields, including NAAS Fellows, participated in the session both in person and online. The event commenced with a welcome address by Dr. W. S. Lakra, Secretary,NAAS, who greeted the President, Vice President, conveners, and other participants.In his opening remarks, Dr. Pathak outlined the specific goals and expectations for the session. The technical discussions began with a presentation by Dr.Sikka, who provided an overview of the status, challenges, opportunities, key questions related to Agrivoltaics in India, and anticipated outcomes from the session.

The session featured two panel discussions that addressed critical aspects of Agrivoltaics. The first panel, moderated by Sh. ShilpVerma and Dr. Rajbir Singh, explored topics such as the India-specific definition of Agrivoltaics, the status of its adoption, advantages of agrivoltaics systems over ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) systems, and the environmental and social impacts. The second panel discussion, moderated by Dr. P. Santra and Dr. Rajbir Singh, focused on identifying suitable areas and commodities for Agrivoltaics, the role of farmers in the expansion of this technology, opportunities and challenges, the need for capacity-building programs, and donors' perspectives on Agrivoltaics. The brainstorming session was coordinated by Dr. Gopal Kumar of IWMI. The session was concluded with the address of Dr. K.M. Bujarbaruah, Vice President, NAAS followed by Vote of thanks by the Secretary NAAS.