ABSTRACT
The treadle pump is a cheap, human-powered twin cylinder pump-head with a bamboo or PVC tube-well, which has been developed by Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS), a German Lutheran NGO working in Bangladesh with small farmers. It has been hailed as a highly successful innovation but, as Box 3.3 argues, government procedures have not been up to the task of promoting its replication. Conflicts between NGO and government working procedures: the case of the treadle pump
This case study illustrates the bureaucratic problems which can undermine a joint, flexible response to a localized crisis by government and NGOs. During July–August 1989, in what should have been the rainy season, a drought occurred in areas of Rangpur and Dinajpur Districts. The amon’ (rainfed) paddy was severely damaged by the failure of the monsoon, causing great hardship to small and marginal farmers.
The Ministry of Agriculture attempted to deal with the crisis with a two-year Post-Drought Agricultural Rehabilitation Programme, based on a decision by the Council of Ministers in 1989. The total outlay of the project was Tk10,000 million and there were two major components: (1) free distribution of seeds and fertilizers for winter crops and (2) free installation of treadle pumps among 100,000 small, marginal farmers and sharecroppers. The programme was administered through a District Agriculture Rehabilitation Committee headed by the then Minister of Social Welfare, whose constituency was in that region. RDRS had been promoting the treadle pump for two decades, as a technology well suited to the needs of small farmers. Marketing was being carried out in conjunction with International Development Enterprise (IDE), another specialized NGO. An order was placed by the government with RDRS/IDE for 100,000 pumps through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the supply and installation of the pumps during the winter of 1990: 1,595 pumps were installed within a short time. The price charged by RDRS was Tk280 for the equipment and a similar charge for sinking each pump.
However, the Ministry of Finance would not endorse the contract since there were open tender rules within GoB for orders of this scale. According to these rules, the MoA therefore opened the contract to outside tenders and the lowest rates offered were Tkl78 per pump and Tk260 for sinking the well. The three lowest bidders were given the order, and all were below the rate charged by RDRS/IDE. The contractors supplied 13,690 pumps and sunk 590 of these, but the Tender Committee on inspection found that those supplied by the contractors fell short of the required specification. The entire supply was rejected and the project was delayed further. The MoA, by diverting Tk10 million from an integrated development project in the south, revised the programme and secured special permission from the president to enter into a new contract with RDRS/IDE, with a second MoU.
Shortly afterwards, there was a change of government after the removal of President Ershad in December 1990. The funds were diverted from the programme in the north, since it was considered that the farmers had by this time recovered from the effects of the drought. The MoA has been able to pay for the work already carried out by RDRS/IDE to the tune of Tk7.2 million and a revised budget is currently being prepared under the new government. It remains to be seen whether or not the order is completed.
Source: Hassanullah (1991)