I traveled to Bangladesh in 1998 to see one of these successes firsthand. Torrential rains drench Bangladesh during the monsoon months, but the country receives very little precipitation the rest of the year. Many fields lie fallow during the dry season, even though groundwater lies less than 20 feet below the surface. To an affluent Westerner, this pump resembles a StairMaster exercise machine and is operated in much the same way. The user pedals up and down on two long bamboo poles, or treadles, which in turn activate two steel cylinders.
Suction pulls groundwater into the cylinders and then dispenses it into a channel in the field.
I spoke with said they often treadled four to six hours a day to irrigate their rice paddies and vegetable plots. To date, Bangladeshi farmers have purchased some 1.2 million treadle pumps, raising the productivity of more than 600,000 acres of farmland. In 1998 I spoke with farmers in the lower Himalayas of northern India, where crops are grown on terraces and irrigated with a scarce communal water supply. They expected to double their planted area with the increased efficiency brought about by affordable drip systems. The treadle pump has succeeded in Bangladesh in part because local businesses manufactured and sold the product and marketing specialists reached out to poor farmers with creative techniques, including an open-air movie and village demonstrations.