'Ponkhiraj' of the coast: How a Tempu with wings is breaking the stranglehold of diesel in farming

In the coastal expanses within the climate-vulnerable regions such as Patuakhali, Barguna, Bagerhat and Satkhira, croplands have become a battleground for human survival.

Here, during the critical Rabi dry season, a cruel irony has long defined the lives of smallholder and marginal farmers.

Their fields are lush with the promise of harvest, yet the lack of water repeatedly shatters these agrarian dreams.

It is a recurring nightmare where crops wither midway into their growth cycles, promising seeds rot into husks, and vast tracts of fertile land are left completely barren.

For decades, the lifeblood of this coastal agriculture was tied to the mechanical rattle of the diesel-powered water pump.

For the vulnerable farmers of BRAC's Nilganj Adaptation Clinic, this dependence felt like a slow economic execution.

Nationwide, an estimated 1.34 million diesel irrigation pumps gulp down one million tonnes of imported fuel annually, releasing 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into an already warming atmosphere.

During the blistering dry season, electric pumps swallow an additional 1,700 to 1,800 megawatts of electricity, leaving the national grid exhausted and causing frequent, unexpected power outages.

On the ground, this macro-level energy dependency translates into pure, unfiltered human misery.

The memories of recent fuel shortages still haunt local farmers, who recount stories of standing in suffocating fuel lines before dawn.

Old men and women, battling high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart complications, describe abandoning their paid farm labourers in the fields at 7am just to wait in line until 10am at local fuel depots -- only to be told that the fuel had run out.

The structural delays of the old diesel system triggered a devastating chain reaction.

When water failed to reach the fields exactly as the paddy stalks were preparing to flower, the soil baked dry.

By the time a farmer could finally secure fuel, the damage was already done.

Crops grew stunted, rice heads turned up empty and chaff-filled, and the resulting straw was so poor and short that it could only be sold for a fraction of its normal price.

Even for those who successfully navigated the lines, the electricity grid offered little to no relief.

Farmers describe renting electric motors, only for the power to cut out within some 30 minutes of starting. As the water vanished before soaking the parched earth, the farmers were left with unpaid rental fees, dried-out crops, and a sense of absolute helplessness.

This persistent vulnerability pushed families to the brink of despair, forcing parents to consider pulling their children out of school because they could no longer see a viable economic path forward.

The crisis reached a tipping point when a collective of farmers across Niamatpur, Islampur, and Holdibaria pooled their resources to cultivate a massive 296-bigha cluster of sunflowers.

Almost immediately, the ambitious venture ran directly into the structural failures of the old irrigation model.

High rental costs, agonisingly long waitlists for machines, and skyrocketing diesel prices threatened to stall the project entirely.

Deprived of timely water, the growth of the sunflowers began to stagnate, plunging the farming community into deep anxiety.

Under the traditional diesel framework, irrigating this single 296-bigha sunflower cluster would have cost an astronomical Tk5,00,000 in fuel and machinery rentals alone -- an overwhelming financial burden that frequently led to irregular watering schedules and stunted crop yields.

In response to this crisis, BRAC's Climate Change Programme introduced a groundbreaking solution: a transportable, mobile solar-powered irrigation system nicknamed 'Ponkhiraj' or the mythical flying horse from your grandmother's tales.

This specialised solar van is designed to drive right up to the edges of a farmer's plot, drawing water directly from local canals and ponds.

Operating entirely on solar energy, the self-propelled van eliminates diesel and electricity costs entirely while producing zero carbon emissions.

The machine is equipped with onboard storage batteries, allowing it to function as a mobile power hub.

It can even serve as a local transport vehicle or supply domestic electricity to nearby households.

In a single six-hour day of operation, this mobile unit can pump up to 60,000 litres of water per hour, successfully irrigating two to two and a half acres of land.

The economic relief for the coastal farmers was immediate and life changing.

Traditionally, irrigating a single bigha of land using conventional fuel systems cost between Tk2,500 and Tk4,000 depending on the crop.

With the introduction of the mobile solar van, that cost plummeted by nearly 70%, dropping to a mere Tk500 to Tk600 per bigha.

Where a farmer previously spent over Tk1,000 on diesel and equipment rentals for six hours of irrigation, the mobile solar system provided the exact same volume of water for just Tk100.

By wiping out the Tk5,00,000 financial deficit hanging over the 296-bigha sunflower cluster, the technology eliminated a long-standing source of operational uncertainty as well.

With an uninterrupted flow of water secured, the sunflowers achieved healthy growth, significantly reducing production risks and replacing community despair with a newfound financial confidence.

This local success story aligns directly with a broader, national-level strategy to phase out fossil-fuel-dependent farming.

Under commitments to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, Bangladesh aims to eliminate diesel pumps in favour of clean energy, targeting a reduction of 0.8 million tonnes of irrigation emissions by 2030.

Currently, diesel-run irrigation pumps account for roughly 1.6% of the nation's total greenhouse gas emissions.

A comprehensive national roadmap seeks to scale up this transition, backed by a $42.4 million investment from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

This programme aims to replace 2,00,000 inefficient diesel pumps with 45,000 high-efficiency Solar Irrigation Pump (SIP) systems, benefiting more than 1.3 million farmers across one million acres of farmland.

Energy enthusiasts emphasise that transitioning to solar power is the most sustainable way to reduce the country's costly dependence on imported diesel.

A full rollout of the national roadmap is projected to cut diesel consumption by 3,00,000 tonnes annually, avoiding 9,00,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

Because the peak demand for pumped irrigation occurs entirely outside the monsoon season -- spanning the dry months from December to May -- the solar infrastructure is highly efficient.

During off-peak periods, the surplus clean energy generated by these pumps can be fed directly back into the national grid, contributing up to 480 gigawatt-hours annually, or nearly 1% of the country's total electricity generation.

However, the transition to solar energy has not been without its initial challenges as some of the farmers have raised concerns about operational limitations during bad weather.

In southwestern districts like Jhenaidah, farmers cultivating water-intensive crops like rice and corn have noted that the pumps cannot run at night or on heavily overcast, hazy days.

When weather disruptions delay irrigation, some farmers feel forced to revert to diesel pumps or electric tube wells to protect their investments, paying standard seasonal rates regardless of the energy source.

Addressing these early adoption hurdles, Bangladesh's energy regulator emphasises that the government is not implementing an immediate ban on older equipment.

Instead, the current focus is on building a robust nationwide infrastructure that ensures emergency diesel backups remain available while the solar grid matures.

For local entrepreneurs, the financial outlook is promising; data indicates that investing in these mobile solar units becomes fully business-viable within two years, according to BRAC Climate Change Programme.

Back on the coast of Nilganj, the successful harvest of the 296 bighas of sunflowers has fundamentally shifted local perspectives.

The ability to access cheap, rapid, and reliable irrigation via flexible pipelines has erased decades of deep-seated anxiety.

With their financial savings secured, local farmers are now planning to reclaim long-abandoned, barren plots and bring them under active cultivation.

This grassroots shift represents a vital step forward for regional agricultural expansion and sustainable food security.

As one local farmer reflected, watching water pulse through the lifelines of his field, if this clean technology can be scaled up across the entire country, Bangladesh will no longer have to depend on foreign fuel to feed its people.

The authors, Tausif Ahmed Qurashi and Shaikh Mohammad Atahe Rabbi, are senior programme manager of the BRAC Climate Change Programme and sub-editor (Online Desk) at The Business Standard, respectively. They can be reached at tausif.qurashi@brac.net and ataheavro@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: The data and supporting comments have been compiled through reports by The Business Standard, Mongabay, and the BRAC Climate Change Programme.