Developing countries need appropriate, low-cost technologies

Amitabha Sadangi is Director of International Development Enterprises India (IDEI), winner of the Ashden Award’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2009.

The gravity and magnitude of climate change demands that we get down to quick, firm and sustainable action. I believe our environmental problems are of our own making and if we want to change what lies ahead we need to look at the actions of today.

IDEI is addressing the needs of poor farmers in India by promoting appropriate technologies and by optimising the use of water for irrigation. We have developed a simple treadle pump and drip irrigation technology for small hold farmers that are low cost and environment friendly. Together the two technologies have led to saving over 530 million litres of diesel, over 3000 million cubic meters of water and 417 million kWh of electricity,

Over one million farmers have adopted our technologies – that is around five million people - and made a net income of $1 billion.

We are fixing what exists. As the World Economic Forum highlighted recently, drip irrigation is improving irrigation systems, with reduced wastage of water through evaporation. Now we are advocating for greater accountability by questioning “subsidies” that are leading to the exploitation of our precious water resource.

IDEI does not believe in charity: we strategically leverage grants from donors to create markets for technologies - thus bringing down the overall cost for the farmer. By linking farmers and others in the supply chain to credit and by using Bollywood films to market the technologies we have made sure that they reach poor farmers throughout India, with interest growing in other parts of Asia and Africa.

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International Development Enterprises India (IDEI) has developed extensive local supply chains to manufacture, distribute, sell and install the treadle pump, branded ‘Farmer’s Friend’

View the Ashden Awards videos of IDEI:

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IDE India features on Voice of America

A simple water pump is helping to improve the lives of poor families in several Asian and African countries.

The treadle pump is based on a design developed in the nineteen seventies by Norwegian engineer Gunnar Barnes. It can be made locally. A group based in the United States, IDE, International Development Enterprises, has created programs in different countries.

The program in India won an Ashden Award in two thousand six for using local sources of energy to improve quality of life. Last year the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded IDE twenty-seven million dollars. The money is to be used to expand small irrigation projects to the other half of India's twenty-eight states.

Read the full story here and also visit their page on the Ashden Awards website.

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More YouTube videos about IDEI and SELCO

Many of our Ashden Award winners also get involved with other organisations to help publicise and expand their work. Here's a couple of videos from Youtube.

IDEI, who won an Ashden Award in 2006, and an Ashden Outstanding Achievement Award in 2009, have also been working with the Skoll Foundation. Here's a video about their work:


SELCO, who won an Ashden Award in 2005, and an Ashden Outstanding Achievement Award in 2007, have been working with media organisations, such as Deutsche Welle, Germany's English-language international broadcaster, who made this film:


In case you'd never seen their original Ashden Awards films, here are the two for IDEI:



and the two for SELCO:

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