Technology advancement has not only saved time and provided maximum output in different sectors, but also replaced the old and traditional concept of farming. While on another hand it has affected the environment, behaviors of people, and the country's economy. Initially, farmers used bulls to plough the fields instead of a tractor; they used Noria for watering their farms, and manually harvested however now they perform all these jobs using technology and which consume much energy. Adopting new technologies is crucial to any advanced society and sector but keeping it managed and properly utilizing it ensures many more benefits.

Pakistan produces sufficient energy but still, it has failed to provide proper and desired energy to all the major sectors. The reason behind the deficiency is the mismanagement, misuse, and over use of energy. To further raise energy production and overcome the crisis, there is a need for proper and efficient utilization.Agriculture constitutes the largest sector of Pakistan’s economy. The majority of the country's population is directly or indirectly dependent on this sector.Pakistan’sagriculture sector contributes to main agricultural products that are cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits, and vegetables.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Pakistan has a semi-industrialized economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The country’s economy was the 23rd largest in the world in 2018 in terms of nominal Gross Domestic Product.
In total, the agriculture sector contributes 18.5 percent to the country’s GDP. Out of the total area of 79.6 million hectares, 22.1 million hectares are cultivated.

According to Energy Year Book 2019, the Agriculture sector has consumed 814,519 TOE (approximately 1.48% of total energy) of total energy (54.9 MTOE) by using both oil and electricity.As we know that Pakistan is basically an agricultural country and its agriculture sector is one of the major consumers of energy resources. The Farm Tractors, other seasonal machinery/machines, and agricultural tube wells use a substantial amount of High-Speed Diesel and electricity.On average, Pakistan’s agricultural sector consumes 12.2 percent of the total electricity, according to the Pakistan Finance department. To counter the issue of energy use we have the only solution that is to use energy up to the need and consuming itcarefully.

The National Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority (NEECA) is an Authority established under the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) and serves as the federal focal agency mandated for initiating, catalyzing, and coordinating all Energy Conservation activities in different sectors of the economy. NEECA works at five major sectors that are, Power/energy, industry, agriculture, building and the transport sector.

NEECA also contributes to the sector of Agriculture and run different projects for the purpose to reduce energy costs in the Agriculture sector.

NEECA has demonstrated through pilot projects that present energy-use efficiency in the agriculture sector is very low and there exists a great potential for energy conservation in this sector. By eliminating inefficiencies in the tube wells, 0.3 Million Tons of High-Speed Diesel, and 1500 GWh of electricity (worth more than Rs. 1.5 Billion) can be saved yearly. Similarly, by improving tractor efficiency, fuel worth Rs. 1.8 Billion Dollars per year can be saved.

NEECA suggests few tips regarding how to reduce your energy costs for the Agriculture sector:

1. Tune-up your tractor and farm machinery regularly
2. Service your tube well/pumping station regularly
3. Do not use tube well in morning/evening peak electricity consumption hours
4. By using TOD meters installed on agricultural tube-wells, farmers may avail 75 paisa rebate per unit while operating tube wells between 10 pm and 6 am
5. Remember! Irrigation during day time results in vaporization of large quantities of water, which can be saved if crops are irrigated during night time
6. Rewind the burnt tube-well motor with the good quality wire which not only prolongs the motor's life but also reduces your electricity bill

Agriculture is one sector that involves the rural and remote communities of the country. So it is a challenging task to aware them regarding efficient use of energy. As the adoption of new technologies was quite time consuming due to the literacy level and local farmers understanding levels of the technology benefits, it seems harder to introduce energy efficiency concepts and techniques within the rural farming communities. The only way to educate and aware them is to directly communicate with them and directly involve them in every step taken by the government. The consistent development by the government regarding Energy Efficiency and Conservation could help farmers to adopt EE technologies and change behaviors.

*The blog article is contributed by a team member at NEECA, who is associated with the Communications Department at NEECA. All the concepts and ideas provided in the article are author’s personal views.