This paper offers an assessment of the social impact of treadle pump technology for manual irrigation in eastern India, the Nepal Terai, and Bangladesh, South Asia’s so-called “poverty square.” This region where 500 million of the world's poorest people live is underlain by one of the world’s best groundwater resources. Treadle pump technology can be a powerful tool for poverty reduction in this region. It “self-selects” the poor and it puts to productive use the region’s vast surplus family labor. It is claimed that the treadle pump could raise the annual net household income by US$100, on the average.
SHAH, T. ALAM, M. DINESH KUMAR, M. NAGAR, R.K. SINGH, M. (2000): Pedaling out of Poverty: Social Impact of a Manual Irrigation Technology in South Asia. (= Research Report , 45 ). Battaramulla: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) URL [Accessed: 07.05.2019]