https://doi.org/10.37229/fsa.fja.2025.09.09

The research aims to evaluate the impact of used solar energy adoption on productivity of vegetable crops in Nineveh Governorate in Iraq, identify socio-economic factors influencing, analyze barriers to solar energy adoption, and assess farmers’ perceptions of the sustainability and efficiency of solar energy systems. The study findings the financial feasibility analysis demonstrates that switching to solar energy for vegetable crop irrigation is a high-yield economic decision that can significantly increase farmers income and profitability, where the renewable energy contributes to reducing operating costs and increasing production efficiency by improving irrigation sustainability, increases farmers' income, reduces costs, and achieves financial and agricultural sustainability.   The NPV is significantly higher than for conventional energy users in sample, meaning that the revenues generated from savings in operating costs particularly fuel and electricity costs for irrigation exceed the initial investment costs in solar systems. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) exceeded 15% or higher, which is significantly higher than conventional rates of return in agricultural activities and a strong positive indicator. The solar users achieve higher yields 8.2 tons/dunum compared to non-users 6.9 tons/dunum, a 18.8% increase. The study recommends the decision-makers on the importance of designing policies, technical and financial support, and awareness campaigns to increase the adoption rates of renewable energy systems in agriculture, focus on financial support, technical training, and providing technical information to farmers, along with creating incentives and policies to remove these barriers and enable the transition to renewable energy. As well as Agricultural planners and policymakers should leverage these findings to direct support and training programs and focus on raising awareness of the benefits and feasibility of solar energy among farmers.