Charting a new path in Orissa A new treadle (concrete pump) has given Ganesh Chandra Pradhan an opportunity to chart a new future for his family Ganesh is in his mid-thirties and has three children. However, he is not on talking terms with his parents, particularly his father. Thus he has set up a separate home within the residential premises of his natal household in Orissa in India. He incurred the wrath of his ‘patriarchal’ father when he bought 7 bighas of land from his personal savings, which he had put together from various sources - earnings from wage work, trading and raising personal loans. Ganesh now cultivates a variety of crops with a concrete pump (which he bought a year ago) on his newly acquired land. Primarily he grows vegetables, tobacco, wheat and paddy. He tells proudly: “The treadle is a boon to me. Earlier, to cultivate paddy and wheat, I was dependent on the rains, and at times had to hire a diesel pump to irrigate my land. We no longer hire a diesel pump. My wife Anita helps me a lot on the farm. She treadles for two to three hours while I treadle for 5-6 hours. My children go to school but every evening my son comes to the field to treadle for half an hour.” Anita has never worked on the farm before. Nonetheless, she admits: “The treadle has helped us put our life back on the rails.” Anita performs many activities on the farm, such as digging, plucking and packing the vegetables. Besides, she fetches fodder for the family cattle. Setting up of a new homestead and working together on the farm have encouraged Ganesh and Anita to collaboratively plan many farm activities. In contrast to her life in the earlier set up, where she was under the patriarchal care of her in-laws, Anita in particular has now learnt to take on new roles, thus charting a new future for her family. Source: International Development Enterprises (India) International Development Enterprises (IDE) is a leading authority on the development of small-scale irrigation and, more importantly, on the mass dissemination of simple, efficient, appropriate and environmentally sustainable technologies in developing countries through the private sector and NGOs. << country/story review