January 25, 2006

Amitabha Sadangi Empowers the Poor

Although Amitabha Sadangi has assisted hundreds of thousands of families in India, he doesn’t believe in charity.

“My entire life, I have listened to the poor and learned from them,” he explained.

As CEO of International Development Enterprises-India, he is offering low-cost irrigation tools that allow subsistence and cash farmers to vastly improve their crop yields and lift themselves out of poverty. But he doesn’t give away the tools or subsidize their cost.

“If we provide the right tool, they will find a way to pay for it,” he said.

Amitabha should know. Until the age of 25, he was never sure where his next meal would come from. He grew up in a tiny, remote village in the Indian state of Orissa, where 99 percent of the people were poor. He sold newspapers and later worked as an accountant to pay for his studies, ultimately completing a postgraduate degree in labor and social welfare, in addition to a law degree.

He has not forgotten that struggle. “I saw the poverty. I knew I had to do something,” he said, with compassion shining in his brown eyes.

In a previous job, he offered free housing to the poor, which he found “demoralizing” because “we were treating people like beggars.” Later a friend from the United States showed him a low-cost pump designed to help farmers irrigate their fields, and Amitabha set up a network to market the product through IDE-India. In the 1990s, this water-lifting device, which operates much like a stair-climber, helped more than 500,000 families double their income, primarily in the northern states where the water table is high.

After 10 years of working with IDE International in the United States, IDE-India registered as an Indian nonprofit and turned leadership over to a national board and Amitabha, who had been the local leader of a staff directed by expatriates. Two years later, Amitabha introduced a new product called the “KB drip” that helps families in semi-arid regions of India irrigate crops. (KB is short for “krishak bhandu,” or “farmer’s friend” in Hindi.)

At just $1 per unit, the drip system is affordable for even the poorest of the poor. It increases water use productivity from 70 to 100 percent, improves yields, helps reduce the need for fertilizers and pesticides, and grows more uniform crops. Instead of being at the mercy of monsoons and droughts, farmers can grow vegetables year-round and don’t have to migrate in search of work. “If they buy equipment for $1, they can turn it into $10,” said Amitabha.

Amitabha estimates that IDE-India’s technology has contributed to increased incomes for more than 800,000 families in India, most of whom formerly lived on about $350 per year. With help from the Skoll Foundation, the organization plans to assist an additional 250,000 families by 2008, creating at least $184 million in new wealth.

The Skoll grant also is helping IDE-India develop new income-generating technologies. An old bicycle pump that Amitabha discovered in an antique shop inspired him to try building a microdiesel pump, and he recently created a sprinkler that can work with close-range pumps. Both products will save water and be affordable for India’s poor farmers.

Amitabha is not worried about how the new entrepreneurs spend the money they make by selling crops. Those who borrow from a retailer who extends credit to them pay back the cost of the irrigation devices within three to four months. After that, IDE-India has learned, the farmers typically reinvest in their farms, improve their homes, pay to send their children to school and pay for medical expenses, in that order.

He described one Indian man named Giridhari Behera who, at age 60, had a wife and son but no land and very little money. He earned a small livelihood by singing songs at festivals near his home in Village Dhalabhanpur in the state of Orissa. After buying a foot-treadle pump and taking on a land lease, the man grew nine vegetables on a one-acre plot and made $1,500 during his first year. After paying off the loan for the pump, buying seed, fertilizer, pesticide and a second pump for his wife to operate, the couple earned $3,000 during the second year.

After seven years, they owned their own home (complete with curtains) and an acre of land, were paying for their son’s education and had a color TV with cable, a cell phone, three cows, two water buffalos for plowing, 50 goats and some chickens. Best of all, they had money in bank. Previously, Giridhari was not allowed in the bank, but now the bank manager invites him to sit down and have a cup of tea whenever he comes by. And the man still sings songs at local festivals—for fun.

IDE-India’s supply chain of manufacturers, distributors and retailers also benefit from the organization’s efforts. All are now independently owned enterprises that are self-sustaining, due to the proceeds of the sales of irrigation systems. So IDE-India’s positive effects extend beyond farmers.

Although Amitabha enjoys hearing from those he’s assisted, he’s not resting on his laurels. Living in a country of more than 1 billion inhabitants, of which more than a third are very poor, he’s set his sights on helping 25 million more people in the next 10 years in India as well as Africa. He may not know exactly how to do that now, but chances are he’ll figure it out. He’s a good listener.

“The happiness I get from helping others find happiness is incomparable,” he said.

DID YOU KNOW?

Sources: The World Bank and IDE-India

• India has the second largest population in the world and the largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its 1.03 billion inhabitants, an estimated 390 million live on less than $1 per day.
  
• A growing gulf has emerged between the country’s richer and poorer states. Disparities between the rural and urban areas are particularly marked; poverty is concentrated in the rural areas, which are home to three-quarters of India’s poor.
  
• A starter drip-system irrigation kit from IDE-India costs $1 and lasts about two years. Each kit grows a minimum of 125 plants—enough to feed an average family and have some crops left to sell.
  
• IDE-India works in 12 of India’s 30 states, including most of the country’s poorest states.