Farmers in Madhya Pradesh are being offered solar-powered irrigation pumps at a fraction of their actual cost — the state government says it is bearing 90 per cent of the expense, leaving cultivators to pay only a tenth. The Chief Minister's Office of Madhya Pradesh posted on Saturday, 17 October 2026, highlighting the rollout of solar pumps under the Mukhyamantri Solar Pump Yojana – Kusum B scheme.

What Kusum B actually gives a farmer

The post, captioned 'सौर ऊर्जा से समृद्धि की ओर' ('Towards prosperity through solar energy'), points to Component B of PM-KUSUM — the central scheme launched by the Government of India in 2019 to solarise agricultural pumps and wean farmers off expensive diesel. Under Kusum B, standalone off-grid solar pumps are installed directly at farm sites, freeing cultivators from the twin burdens of erratic grid power and volatile fuel costs.

Madhya Pradesh has layered its own state subsidy on top of the central framework, with the combined support advertised at 90 per cent of pump cost. That means a pump priced at, say, one lakh rupees costs the farmer just ten thousand. The scheme is being implemented under the watch of Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav, who has been in office since December 2023.

MP's push within India's broader solar agriculture drive

Madhya Pradesh sits at the heart of India's agricultural belt, and irrigation costs are a persistent drag on farm incomes across the state. The PM-KUSUM framework was specifically designed to address this — combining central and state funding to put off-grid solar capacity directly in farmers' hands, rather than waiting for rural grid expansion.

The state has been scaling this distribution steadily, with the Kusum B component targeting areas where grid connectivity is thin or unreliable. The announcement signals continued momentum on that rollout, even as analysts and policymakers watch closely for granular installation targets and disbursement figures in coming quarters.

Why the subsidy depth matters

A subsidy at or near the 90 per cent level is not merely generous — it is often the threshold at which a scheme converts intent into actual adoption. Farmers who would otherwise defer a capital purchase see the barrier effectively disappear. If the figure holds at scale, it places Madhya Pradesh among the more aggressive state-level implementers of the PM-KUSUM architecture in central India.

The real test, as always, will be last-mile execution: whether pumps are installed, commissioned, and maintained in the field — not just approved on paper. Those numbers will tell the fuller story.