The Treadle Pump is a foot operated water lifting device for easy irrigation of small holder plots of land. A treadle pump can be used by all members of a farming family to irrigate crops. The user stands on two treadles, usually made of bamboo, and pedals them. This light exercise, similar to using a step machine, operates two metal pump-cylinders which are connected to a tube-well, or to a surface level pond. The tube-well consists of robust, flexible plastic, sunk into the ground until it reaches an aquifer. Before first use, water is poured into the cylinders to ‘prime’ the pump. When the user pedals, water is lifted up onto the field, or into a pond or irrigation canal. The pedalling action is easily mastered and not strenuous, so that anyone in the family can take a turn at irrigating the fields. Typically the household will operate a pump for between two and eight hours per day, often in the early morning or evening when the weather is cool.
Direct impacts of Treadle Pump irrigation
- The income impact of the Treadle Pump technology varies across households and regions, but US$400 per year is the estimate of the average increase in the annual net income of each household
- 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%.
- Easy and productive : The Treadle pump is easier to use and is more productive than a variety of traditional manual irrigation devices. Its output is in the range of 4000-4500 litres/hour with a lift of 4-7 m.
- Change in cropping pattern : Treadle Pump technology enables the farmers to grow crops they were not able to grow earlier, example- farmers are able to grow vegetables and make more money by selling them
- The most significant impact is the increase in the crop yield
- 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 (traditionally used by farmers for irrigation during non-monsoon seasons)
- Farming families have a better diet with more vegetables and milk, and plenty of surplus produce to sell
- Acumen Fund survey showed that helping with pumping did not add to chores of children or prevent them attending school
- TUV Nord has verified greenhouse gas savings from avoided diesel as 0.477 tonnes/year CO2 per pump.
