Its acceptance in Bangladesh where it was first developed in 1984 is extraordinary, with over 500,000 pumps estimated now to be in use. The current design in this manual has evolved from the Bangladesh original into a fully portable pump with both lift and pressure capacity and is especially good for use in permeable soils where water cannot easily be distributed through channels. Treadle pumps make it easier for farmers to retrieve water for their fields or vegetable gardens, and they are cheap and easy to handle. If pumps are produced locally, they can also create jobs and income. Many African farmers are still irrigating very small plots of land using bucket-lifting technologies, which are slow, cumbersome and labour intensive.
Treadle pumps are far more efficient and user-friendly.
At the heart of effective irrigation lies the problem of lifting or pumping water, and this handbook, newly revised and reformatted, surveys the water-lifting technologies that are available and appropriate for smallholdings. It is a detailed and practical review of the options, especially for irrigation but also for other purposes, and the costs and general suitability of the different technologies are examined with the aim of enabling farmers and policy makers to make informed choices.