Oorja is a Farming-as-a-Service company that finances and installs decentralised solar agri-infrastructure and sells irrigation, milling and cooling services to smallholder farmers.

Oorja provides solar-powered affordable services of irrigation, milling and cooling to smallholder farmers that were previously reliant on diesel engines for their on-farm energy needs. These services are designed for low-income rural communities, with a current focus on India. The objective is to increase farmers’ agricultural productivity, to strengthen food systems and to reduce carbon emissions. Oorja finances, installs, operates and maintains solar agri-infrastructure at or near the farm. It has pioneered an inclusive pay-per-use business model to eliminate the upfront cost barrier for access to solar technology. Oorja’s customers are one-acre farmers with monthly income less than $100 per month. They save up to 50% by transitioning from diesel to Oorja’s services. Users can increase their farming income by up to 100% by expanding the number of growing seasons, cultivating new crops and reducing post-harvest waste of horticultural produce. Oorja’s work also creates gainful employment in last-mile communities. To date, Oorja has deployed 39 solar pumps, 7 solar mills and 1 solar cold storage impacting 4,500 direct and indirect users.