**1. Introduction**

Today's world faces several challenges, including population expansion, climate change, dwindling food supplies, energy crisis, and water shortages. The challenges are intertwined in a manner, and their cumulative impact is devastating, particularly for the agriculture sector [1]. According to the latest United Nations (UN) projection, the world's population will exceed 9.6 billion by 2050, implying significant food insecurity in near future [2]. In order to catch the pace of prevailing nutritional demands, agriculture communities ought to be enhanced by at least 1.5 times compared to

2012 [3]. However, recent statistics revealed that the production capacity needs to be increased by 70% for coping with the population hunger in 2050 [4]. On the other hand, the resources utilized for alleviating the production capacity are becoming increasingly scarce. For instance, the agriculture sector mainly relies on adequate supplies of water and energy. Agriculture consumes 70% of the global scale freshwater withdrawals for the growth of agriculture commodities [5, 6]. However, it has been identified that the freshwater reserves are shrinking due to climate change consequently impacting the agri-food supply chain thereby exploring alternative solutions such as desalination [7, 8]. On the other hand, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), agrarian activities mainly account for 30% of the global cumulative energy production [4, 9]. The Asian countries have a major footprint in the agriculture sector. In this spectrum, they consume 4,000,000 TJ of energy in 2018 to perform agriculture operations [4]. **Figure 1** presents the region-wise temporal variation of the energy utilized by the agriculture sector [4, 10, 11]. The origin of this energy is fossil fuels, which enable the modern farm mechanization, centering fertilizer application and enhancing the harvesting and post-harvesting efficiencies. However, the depletion of fossil fuel reserves limiting the farm efficiency [12, 13].

Pakistan stands in the lane of agricultural countries that produces its major food supplies from arable land. The agriculture sector employs 39–42.3% of the country's labor force and contributes 19.3% of gross domestic growth (GDP) [14, 15]. According to the Pakistan economic survey (PES), the agriculture growth in 2020−2021 was recorded at 2.67%, which is 1.33% less compared to 2018 (4.0%) [15]. Similarly, the share of the GDP obtained from the agriculture sector has gradually decreased due to minimization of surface water availability, high energy pricing, pest attacks, climate change, and other influencing factors that limit the agriculture productivity from its potential [15, 16]. Pakistan consumes 93.8% of its total freshwater withdrawals for agrarian activities. However, a dramatic shortfall in surface water supplies has been observed in the last few years. For instance, from 2018 to 2019, the freshwater shortfall was estimated at 18.5% [15]. According to Indus River System Authority (IRSA), an acute water shortage of 38% was recorded in 2022, which was aimed to irrigate the Kharif crops [17, 18]. Similarly, the pricing of on-farm energy sources is mounting.

#### **Figure 1.**

*Region-wise temporal variation of energy consumption and water withdrawal for agricultural activities reproduce here from [4, 10, 11].*

#### *Agrovoltaic and Smart Irrigation: Pakistan Perspective DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106973*

The farmers are suffering from a shortage of fuel supplies. In this context, a sustainable alternative water and energy source are principally required in the country to improve crop productivity and for meeting the nutritional demands.

Groundwater is an alternative reliable resource of an adequate supply of freshwater. The dependency on the groundwater is increased in the last few years due to the depletion of surface water supplies [19]. Fortunately, Pakistan is blessed with the largest underground reservoir after China, India, and the USA, providing 60% and 90% of the irrigation and drinking water supplies, respectively [20]. Farmers are extensively pumping the groundwater in order to accomplish their water needs. For doing so, lifts pumps or tube wells are the ultimate sources to extract the underground water. In this context, a large number of tube wells are being installed across the country mainly driven with diesel as shown in **Figure 2**. Punjab mainly contains a high density of tube wells (995,456) followed by Sindh (71,454), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (42,970), and Balochistan (39,567) with capacity varies between <10 and >25 horsepower (hp) [22]. Approximately 58% of tube wells in Pakistan have a capacity of 16–20 hp., necessitating massive fossil energy to operate [22]. The depletion and high pricing of the fossil fuels provoke food insecurity, which eventually destabilizes the country's economy furthermore, fossil fuel emissions are wreaking havoc on the ecosystem via global warming, shifting rainfall patterns, soil drying, and air pollution. The researchers concentrated their efforts in this area by constructing freestanding underground water pumping devices that could be fueled by renewable energy sources.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has proven to be the most reliable on-farm energy source, capable to perform a variety of agro-operations [23]. Particularly for irrigation purposes a wide range of solar-driven pumps is being installed in order to accomplish the agricultural needs. However, due to the lack of groundwater governance in the country, massive groundwater extraction is committed by the farmers

#### **Figure 2.**

*Number of tube wells installed in Pakistan is segregated based on primary energy resources reproduce here from [21].*

irrespective of their agriculture requirements. Consequently, stressing and exhausts the reservoir at a higher pace. In this context, alternative, viable policies, and smart irrigation technologies are principally required in order to mitigate the food insecurity arising from the water shortfall. Agrovoltaic irrigation system (AVIS) conception could be a remarkable and promising solution that not even metered the groundwater pumping but also utilized the culturable land for twin benefits (i.e., solar energy harvesting and agriculture production). The study presents the novel conception of AVIS and explores the prospects and challenges that need to be encountered for the potential adaptation of the technology at the farm level. In addition, the study highlights the consequences and possible remedies for the commercialization of the AVIS.
