A Quarter Century of Growing Incomes

September 2009 marks the 25th Anniversary of the founding of IDE Bangladesh, our longest running active country program.

When IDE first began interviewing Bangladeshi farmers in 1984, we noticed a lack of access to water in rural villages, and identified hand-powered irrigation pumps as an extremely affordable way to increase productivity on small farms. To spread awareness, we implemented social marketing campaigns which increased annual sales of these manual pumps from 14,000 to 75,000 in a five year period. After that initial success, IDE did not rest on the accomplishment; we listened to what our customers had to say about their experiences in the field, and answered with a better solution in the more efficient and user-friendly treadle pump.

Early Adopter Realizes Dream

Before Rashida Begum (pictured above) purchased her treadle pump nearly 18 years ago, she depended on rains alone to water her small plot, and food was often scarce. Irrigating with the pump allowed her to grow a wider variety of crops including chili, amaranth, radish, and potatoes which she could sell for profit. Over the years as she supported a family of five, Rashida reinvested her vegetable profits in land and crop diversification, and she was recently able to purchase a small retail shop, realizing a dream she thought unattainable just a few years earlier.

The success of Rashida and many other small farmers like her confirms our belief that simple, affordable technologies enable the rural poor to become entrepreneurs, creating a path out of poverty that is both sustainable and replicable. There is now a thriving private sector treadle pump industry in Bangladesh due to IDE's efforts. To date, more than 1.5 million treadle pumps have been sold there, creating 1.4 billion dollars in net additional income per year.

Bangladesh Today

Now that treadle pump marketing has been taken over by the private sector, IDE Bangladesh currently maintains two projects: the Agricultural Input Supply Delivery (AISD) Project, and Integrating Smallholders Into Expanding Markets (ISEM). AISD focuses on improving the availability of quality seed, pesticides, and fertilizers to small farmers, and ISEM works with small farmers and grower groups to improve market access and quality of production. View photos >  
Go to IDE Bangladesh website >

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