installation was not to be more than the price of one bag of paddy, and the pump was to be simple enough to make and repair locally. This led to the use of bamboo tubewell and frame, and other locally available materials. Beginning in 1976, they came up with various designs of foot-operated pumps which, because they only used one leg, were not comfortable and had low output. The last design before the treadle pump was a “Y-pump”, having two cylinders welded together in a Y shape, and a hand-driven rocking frame so the hands could help the foot. The plungers were also of a special and more efficient design, which were subsequently adopted by the handpump industry in Bangladesh and India. The improvements started to gain interest for the pump. With the development of the treadle pump, using components of the Y pump but having the use of both legs, there was immediate interest and demand. The treadle pump was introduced in December, 1980, and thereafter the RDRS workshop produced 20 pumps a day to meet demands. By 1982 there were different models of the pump: twin tubewell, twin dugwell, twin low-lift, twin tubewell with drinking spout, and household model. In March, 1988, the cost of a treadle pump, installed, was about $20 U.S. Production and marketing As the small RDRS workshop in Rangpur was unable to keep up with demand, RDRS helped local entrepreneurs set up workshops to make the treadle pump (known early on as the “twin treadle pump”). The first of the workshops was the North Bengal Agriculture Workshop in Lalmonirhat (NBAW), started in 1981. The fourth workshop was that of Mr. Narendra Nath Deb. Mr. Deb was already making pumps of his own design, but contracted in 1984 for his workers to be trained in making the treadle pump. By the end of 1984, 26,701 treadle pumps had been sold. Since 1985, 84 manufacturers now produce treadle pumps and have currently sold 1.4 million treadle pumps to small plot Bangladeshi farmers. One of the first instances of the treadle pump moving out of Bangladesh was its promotion by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines in 1984, under Robert Stickney. There it was called the “Tapak-Tapak” Pump. In 1986, iDE identified the treadle pump as a technology which could help raise income and productivity on small farms, and entered into the field of