MURIDKE: Out in the fields near Pakistan’s city of Muridke in Punjab province, rice farmer Karamat Ali’s cows and buffalos once provided his family with milk until earlier this year, when he sold about a dozen of them to buy a set of solar panels.
Ali now uses his panels to power a tube well, which is composed of a water well and a motorized groundwater pump. The solar device allows Ali to irrigate his crops with greater ease and frees him from depending on the erratic electricity grid and pricey diesel to extract groundwater.
“It keeps my costs low because it runs without diesel and keeps my water supply running smoothly,” Ali said.
A worker installs a folding solar panel unit, to run a tube well, the motorised pump that taps groundwater, in a rice field in Muridke, Sheikhupura District in Punjab province, Pakistan, on August 12, 2025. (REUTERS)
As Pakistan undergoes a solar revolution fueled by cheap Chinese-made panels, farmers like Ali are increasingly ditching diesel and grid power for sun-powered tube wells, according to interviews with growers, as well as government officials and analysts.
