A SIMPLE TECHNOLOGY HERALDS A NEW BEGINNING
“About a couple of years ago, my land was dotted with fallow strips. Watering the low yielding agricultural land with the swing basket was a tedious task and hiring a diesel pump from large landowners added to the woes. Today I am doing wonders with my smallholding growing varied crops, only because of the treadle pump, insuring my family against hunger,” says Rabi Majhi. Only a couple of years ago, Rabi was earning less than INR 70 a day by farming staple crops. Often, when the rains failed, Rabi would be forced to sell his family's assets to buy grain for food – they had to sell their valuable oxen two years ago during a dry spell. The farmer paid INR 60 per hour to hire a diesel pump to irrigate around an acre of land and the recurring cost was increasingly becoming a burden for the family. He often worked as a farm laborer to support his family. But soon his daughter's illness forced him to return to his small plot of land, it was at this point that he was introduced to the world of treadle pump. One day while attending to his dry patch of land, he heard a campaign announcing a video show in the neighbourhood. The villagers thronged in large numbers to watch the show and Rabi was quite amazed to see a simple technology change the lives of people. When he met the local dealer, Rabi had little technical knowledge, not enough capital, nor any idea how to get started; only a willingness to
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invest what little money he had to support his family. Rabi decided to purchase the pump and started saving money to invest in the technology. After over a month, he bought the surface treadle pump. Currently growing a multiple vegetables – potato, mustard, tomato, eggplant, garlic, chillies, radish – Rabi has changed his crop pattern. His income jumped from INR 7,000 to INR 25,000 in a season. He is successfully producing vegetables year round. Rabi says that this investment has an impact on his income within a few months and subsequently presented new opportunities for his family: they started to eat better and more... three meals a day. In addition, he was able to send his son and daughter to attend coaching classes paying INR 300 per month. He has reconstructed his house and has invested in a Life Insurance Policy paying a premium of INR 1,380 per year for 25 years insuring a sum of INR 34,500. He was able to purchase three cows. Rabi recently sold one of his cows at INR 8,000 and used some of the profits to rebuild his house. He has also started selling milk in the local market at INR 12-15 per litre. Rabi, a progressive farmer, has convinced other village households to purchase treadle pump and begin or expand vegetable production for the commercial market.