The Power of a Radically Affordable Irrigation Pump

I read the article “The Power of a Radically Affordable Irrigation Pump”, posted onto the National Geographic website by Sandra Postel. This article gave insight into the use of the recently invented treadle pump. This pump is based for agricultural families in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. These families are in poverty and are hungry because they don’t have the technology or the resources to make enough crops during the dry season. The treadle pump, invented by Norwegian engineer Gunnar Barnes, is extremely helpful to farmers as, “The operator pedals up and down on two poles (called treadles), which activates a cylinder that suctions water up through a shallow well. The water then empties into an irrigation ditch and travels down the field to irrigate small plots of rice and vegetables.” The great thing about this pump is that it will only cost these families $35. Farmers can irrigate up to half an acre worth of crops with this simple device. The families can produce more crops to escape hunger, and as they make higher value crops, they can escape poverty as well. Eighty-four manufacturers make treadle pumps in Bangladesh and over 1.4 million pumps have been sold since 1984.  Now the International Development Enterprise has set up local posts to sell more pumps to Bangladeshi families in need. Along with the IDE, a non-profit company called KickStart has been giving variations of the treadle pump to farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. This new affordable pump is changing lives and helping troubled families escape poverty and hunger.

                At this point in history over 850 million people are hungry in the world. Most of them cannot feed themselves or their families because they do not have the resources or the technology to produce enough food. Troubled farmers in Africa and Asia cannot produce enough crops during the difficult dry season, but thanks to the treadle pump, the families can irrigate their fields and have enough food to support their family and sell higher priced crops to the market. Hunger is such a big problem in our world today and so many organizations have been working towards helping people, and the treadle pump is helping the cause to giving everyone food. Each treadle pump sold gets us even closer to our goal of making sure that no one goes hungry.

                Reading the article “The Power of a Radically Affordable Irrigation Pump”, posted by Sandra Postel, really made me happy because I love reading stories about new inventions that help troubled people. Farming life in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia is extremely tough, and many farmers have troubles during the hard dry season, but Gunnar Barnes creates a simple way to irrigate their fields. This article is well-written and describes the overview of the treadle pump really well. I really enjoyed this article and I hope my classmates enjoy it as well.

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/04/18/the-power-of-a-radically-affordable-irrigation-pump/

posted for J. Flannery