Grant: Microirrigation for Farm Households in India

Irrigation Technology Demonstration Center, New Delhi, India, 2007. Photo by Prashant Panjiar.

Using a treadle pump at the Irrigation Technology Demonstration Center, New Delhi, India.

About the Grantee:
International Development Enterprises (IDE) is an organization that works with poor farmers to create technologies and disseminate them through the marketplace. Its mission: to increase agricultural productivity and improve smallholder productivity.

Grant Amount: $27.1 million

Grant Term: November 2007—October 2011

Grant Location: India

Partners: IDE India is the primary implementing partner. Other partners include the PRACTICA Foundation, Keller Bliesner Engineering, and IDEO.

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This grant includes a plan for third-party evaluation.

Grantee: International Development Enterprises

In India, two-thirds of small farmers don’t have access to any irrigation. Without a reliable source of water, their crops and livelihoods are dependent on unpredictable monsoon rains. As a result, they are reluctant to invest their limited resources in better seeds, fertilizer, and other supplies that can help them increase their yields and income.

We're working with International Development Enterprises (IDE) to develop and distribute affordable technologies that lift water from the ground, distribute it across a farm, and store it for later use. This builds on a grant we made to IDE in 2006 that is having significant success in helping fruit and vegetable farmers in Asia and Africa raise their incomes by using affordable irrigation systems.

Once IDE has identified the most effective tools, it will set up manufacturing supply chains and sales organizations to ensure that the technologies are available to the farmers who need them. Based on what IDE learns, it will eventually test this basic approach in other countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.