AnewZ Morning Brief - 2 October, 2025
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 2nd of October, covering the latest developments you need to k...
Punjab’s rice farmers are increasingly turning to solar-powered tube wells, boosting irrigation efficiency and cutting energy costs, but the rapid shift is raising concerns over groundwater depletion and Pakistan’s long-term food security.
In Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, rice farmers are increasingly using solar panels to power tube wells—motorised groundwater pumps that make irrigation easier and reduce reliance on erratic electricity and costly diesel.
Rice Farmer Karamat Ali said, “Water supply to my paddy feed is smoother than before,” highlighting the convenience of solar irrigation.
He added that the solar helps them save money and avoid fuel costs.
“It keeps my costs low because it runs without diesel and keeps my water supply running smoothly.”
As Pakistan embraces a solar revolution, Punjab farmers are using sun-powered tube wells for more frequent irrigation, expanding rice fields by 30% between 2023 and 2025, while maize cultivation has dropped 10%.
Although exact numbers are unclear, some 400,000 tube wells previously running on grid electricity have now switched to solar, with an estimated additional 250,000 purchased since 2023, totalling around 650,000 solar-powered wells.
Some farmers said they're making large profits from the switch.
Mohammad Naseem is a 61-year-old farmer and said, “In four years, I have made a profit of between $7,000 and $8,000. Even if it is $177 per month, it is around $2,000 per year.”
Analysts say this transition could reduce the agriculture sector’s grid electricity use by 45% by 2025.
While solarisation lowers energy costs and reduces diesel use, it has coincided with a rapid decline in Punjab’s groundwater.
Internal Punjab water authority maps show water tables dropping below 60 feet across 6.6% of the province, a 25% increase since 2020, and deeper aquifers beyond 80 feet more than doubling in size.
Officials say solar irrigation doesn’t increase water use, though Punjab’s irrigation minister acknowledges it impacts water levels. Measures such as aquifer-recharge projects and old infrastructure restoration aim to slow depletion.
Researcher for Punjab's Irrigation Department, Adnan Hassan said, “We have to pay special attention to the water quality. What we are injecting in the aquifer, that quality must be equal to the drinking water quality. If you inject polluted water from the roads to the aquifers, then the next generation will suffer the consequences.”
Farmers benefit financially and in crop quality, with some pooling resources to share panels. Experts warn that without better governance and monitoring, groundwater depletion could threaten Pakistan’s agriculture and food security.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 2nd of October, covering the latest developments you need to know.
The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Bualoi and the floods it triggered has risen to 36, according to a Thursday (2 October) report from the government's disaster management agency.
Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith will visit North Korea at the invitation of leader Kim Jong Un for celebrations commemorating the country's ruling party on 10 October, state news agency KCNA announced.
The death toll from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck off the central Philippines late on Tuesday has risen to 72, the civil defence agency said on Thursday (2 October).
The United States will provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets within Russia, two officials told Reuters on Wednesday (1 October), as it weighs whether to send Kyiv missiles that could be used in such strikes.
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