This is the VOA SpecialEnglish AGRICULTURE REPORT.
Farmers often need to get water to their crops. They may have thenecessary water nearby. However, they may lack an effective way topump it.
Pumps powered by fuel can move a lot of water. Yet they cost alot of money to buy and operate. So, many farmers move the waterthemselves. They put a container on a rope into the water. They pullthe container out by hand. Then they carry it to their fields orvegetable gardens. The work is slow and difficult.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has ananswer. The device is called a treadle pump. The pump costs aboutsixty dollars. It operates by foot power.
F-A-O officials say treadle pumps are popular among farmers withsmall areas of land. They say increased use of the pumps could helpfood production, especially in Africa.
A pump operated by foot power does not produce as much water as amotor-powered pump. Yet the treadle pump is a big improvement overlifting water by hand. The time it saves could be used to grow morecrops on bigger pieces of land. Use of the pump could improve thequality of crops. It could greatly increase a farmer’s earnings. Thepumps also could create employment and help the economy if they areproduced locally.
One or two people work the pump by stepping up and down on awooden treadle. This forces a device to move up and down inside thepump. Two plastic pipes are connected to the pump. One pipe isplaced about six meters underground into the water supply. The otherpipe is placed in a field of crops. The up and down motion on thetreadle pulls water into the pipe and up to the surface, where itflows out. The treadle pump can water fields up to one hectare. Thepump can easily be taken apart and moved from one area to another.
The F-A-O reports that treadle pumps are being used in severalAfrican countries, including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Niger. Itsays non-governmental organizations have provided many of thedevices.
In Burkina Faso, local metal workers produce and sell treadlepumps. One business in Burkina’s capital has sold more thantwo-hundred pumps in the past year.
This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by GeorgeGrow.