One field, two harvests — food and electricity, grown side by side. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, captured that idea in five Hindi words at the #AgriVoltaicsWorldConference2026, calling agrivoltaics the nation's unique strength: 'Annadata bhi, Urjadata bhi' — 'Food-giver as well as Energy-giver.'

'Annadata bhi, Urjadata bhi' — what Joshi's phrase actually means

The slogan is a play on two words deeply embedded in Indian agrarian culture. Annadata — literally 'giver of grain' — is the term of reverence India uses for its farmers. Urjadata means energy provider. By fusing them, Joshi positioned the Indian farmer not merely as a beneficiary of renewable energy policy, but as its co-producer.

Agrivoltaics — the practice of co-locating solar panels above or between crops on the same parcel of land — is precisely that fusion made physical. The shade from panels can reduce water evaporation, moderate soil temperature, and in some crop configurations even improve yields, while the land simultaneously generates clean electricity.

Where PM-KUSUM laid the foundation

India's policy footing for this approach stretches back to the PM-KUSUM scheme launched in 2019 under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — the same ministry Joshi now heads. PM-KUSUM was designed to solarise irrigation pumps and allow farmers to sell surplus power to the grid, planting the idea that agricultural land could be a dual-use energy asset. Agrivoltaics takes that logic a step further: instead of replacing a pump, it reimagines the field itself as both farm and power plant.

For a country racing toward its renewable energy capacity targets while simultaneously protecting food security, the calculus is compelling. India cannot afford to sacrifice farmland for solar parks, nor can it leave rural electricity demand unmet. Agrivoltaics, at least in principle, dissolves that trade-off.

What the Minister's spotlight signals for policy

Joshi's visible presence at an international agrivoltaics conference — and his choice to frame it in the language of farmer identity rather than megawatts — suggests the Ministry is building political and public groundwork for scaled agrivoltaic pilots. Concrete scheme guidelines or updated PM-KUSUM provisions specifically enabling agrivoltaic installations would be the natural next step to watch from New Delhi.

The stakes are real: millions of Indian farmers sit on land that receives among the highest solar irradiance on earth. If policy can unlock dual-income streams from that land — a crop harvest and a power tariff — it changes the economics of farming at scale. Annadata bhi, Urjadata bhi is not just a slogan. It may well become a scheme headline.