Treadle Pump Programme

Since 1991, we have been implementing a programme of mass marketing of Treadle Pumps in East India (earlier called the KB East Programme). The expanded the programme to cover almost all the areas where treadle could have some potential. The main thrust of this phase was to promote and market a branded treadle pump (brand name KB). KB stands for Krishak Bandhu, meaning "farmer's friend".

Treadle Pump is a foot operated water lifting device that can irrigate small plots of land of small holders in regions that have higher water table (not deeper than 25 feet) A low cost system , simple in design and easily manageable it appropriately answers the irrigation need for the small farmers .with an internal rate of return of 100% and a benefit cost ratio of 5,treadle pump is an ideal investment for small land holders whose savings are as small as $12 to $15. Click here to visit Treadle Pump gallery.

~ Technologies
~ Direct impacts of Treadle Pump irrigation
~ Treadle Pump as Gender Friendly technology
~ Dissemination of technology
~ Treadle Pump Activities
~ Promotion
~ Production and Quality Assurance
~ Training

Direct impacts of Treadle Pump irrigation

•  It frees the farmer from the limitations of rain fed farming and raises his capacity to grow crops in both winter and summer.

• Land augmenting : For the poor farmers constrained by the small size of the landholdings, treadle pump technology acts as a land augmenting intervention- With the use of Treadle Pump the Farmers can cultivate all the year round thus increasing their cropping intensity to 200-300%,and never leave their land fallow. What they can not obtain due to small landholdings they can more than make up for it through combinations of higher cropping intensity and growing higher value crops.

•  Easy and productive : In terms of ease of production Treadle Pump is a distinct improvement over a variety of tradition manual irrigation devices. It is easier to use and is more productive. Its ouTreadle Pumput is in the range of 0.6 to 0.8 l/sec with a lift of 4.5 m, which is better than any other device.

• Change in cropping pattern : Treadle Pump technology enables the farmers to grow crops they were not able to grow earlier. In West Bengal and Orissa, farmers cultivate ''boro" or winter crop while in UP and Bihar farmers use Treadle Pump for growing vegetables.

• Intensive cultivation in priority plots: The most significant impact is the increase in the crop yield .Harvests of Treadle Pump irrigators is significantly higher than the than that of the pump less and often exceeds the harvest of the diesel pump owners . Among the most important reason cited by farmers themselves is the leaching away of the fertilizers due to the strong water currents generated by the diesel pumps. Moreover priority farming of Treadle Pump irrigated plots by the farmers results in an enormous amount of green revolution inputs, care and family labour as they spend more time on the plot.

• The income impact of the Treadle Pump technology varies across households and regions, but US$100 per year is the conservative estimate of the average increase in the annual net income of each household.

Gender friendly:

The pump can easily be operated by women and has brought an improvement of the situation of women by increasing household food security and nutritional variety, and decreasing the labour required to fetch water. . More women have come out of their homes to operate the productivity enhancing technology and have taken pride in increasing their house hold food security through new skills exposure and opportunities.

A number of assessment and socio-economic impact studies carried out in different regions of program implementation in India, have captured the changing roles of women and altered gender relations with the use of technology. Women have reported improved sense of ownership, confidence, and an increased ability to provide for the families nutritional needs besides the new acquired knowledge and new skills like proper crop spacing, fertilizer application, disease and control.
The tribal women have shifted their roles from being wage laborers to independent farmers with keen and vigorous farming interests and increased time flexibilities

Treadle Pump Activities

At IDE (India) we conduct the following activities for successful implementation of the treadle pump programme.

Creating a groundswell of demand for treadle pump

• Establishing a reliable manufacturing base for producing good quality pumps

• Creating and nurturing a strong, wide distribution network comprising distributors, dealers and NGOs

• Ensuring more than 750,000 satisfied pump users

• Establishing the market and business potential of treadle pumps

We facilitate the sale of different models of the treadle pump to small and marginal farm families in the eastern zone of India. Since inception in 1991, we have ensured the adoption of around 750,000 treadle pumps by small holder farm families.

IDE (India) does not involve in direct selling. Rather, we ensure sale of our pumps through the private marketing channel comprising village-based distributors, dealers, mistries, government sales depots (in the case of Orissa) and even NGOs. In other words, we play the role of a catalyst by networking with channel partners and ensuring quality production of pumps and their smooth delivery to the farmer customer.

As part of our channel capacity building exercise, we also advise the partners of the distribution chain as well as the user farmers on the use of good quality seeds, fertilizers and adopting better cropping practices.
 
Since April 2000, our focus has changed from one of establishing the high business potential of treadle pumps through sales maximisation to ensuring greater involvement of KB channel partners in the business of marketing treadle pumps.

The IDE (India) team has begun reducing its presence in certain areas to see its impact on the market and sales. Moreover, channel partners (such as manufacturers, distributors and dealers) are contributing towards treadle pump promotional cost and are investing time and resources for ensuring quality production of the pump.

Promotion

The key to IDEI success in product dissemination is its effective promotion in rural areas. Our field staffs play a crucial role in all promotional activities. We initially invest considerable time and money in promoting our products. Simultaneously, we train and motivate the distribution channel to gradually take over the responsibility for product promotion as well as dissemination.
Our promotional activities are highly interactive to create maximum awareness for achieving high sales.. Specifically, IDE (India)'s dynamic promotional activities include:

• live demonstrations in village haats, melas and panchayat meetings;

• conducting farmers' meetings in villages and farmer exposure visits to demonstrate the technology.

• Successful farmers act as opinion leaders for farmer meetings and create a ripple effect by spreading the message about them to neighboring villages

• conducting video van shows of our products at strategic places in the villages; and

• conducting periodic meets with partners such as manufacturers, dealers and NGOs.

• static promotional elements include handbills, wall paintings, hoardings and dealer boards.

Production and Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is at the heart of IDE (India)'s philosophy of treating small and marginal farmers as customers and not as mere recipients of charity. For treadle pump marketing we have successfully implemented since 1991 a stringent quality assurance procedure among our approved manufacturers, the key features of which are:

• Periodic inspection and testing of raw materials used

• Regular in-process and final product inspection

• A statistically sound sampling plan for the above procedures

• A foolproof system to track pumps from the manufacturer to the farmer's field (punch plating system and issuance of warranty card and farmer's instruction/maintenance manual)

From year 2000 we have embarked on a gradual phase-out programme, based on mutual trust between IDEI and its approved manufacturers to ensure quality assurance of treadle pumps. The phase-out programme involves imparting training to the manufacturers and other IDEI channel partners so that they are able to thoroughly grasp and inculcate a high degree of quality consciousness, especially in the context of strict issuance of warranty cards and instruction manual to the farmers and their empowerment for demanding quick replacement of defective pumps

Training

Training has been and will remain an integral component of IDE (India)'s activities as it empowers key players to assume increasing responsibilities to further the cause of treadle pump dissemination among small and marginal farm families. Since our inception in India, we have played a catalytic role, and in keeping with that status we impart relevant training in the form of transfer of knowledge and skill to channel partners and farmers in quality control and assurance of pump production, effective product promotion, correct product installation / maintenance / repair, and agronomic inputs such as best cropping practices and judicious use of fertilisers and pesticides.

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