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What happens when the ideal of rural poverty alleviation meets the harsh sands of Pakistan, and the reality of earning an ROI?  In this GoodEater interview, Joel Montgomery, an Alabamian, Yale-grad Acumen Fellow, tells the story of  helping to build an drip-irrigation social enterprise in one of the driest agricultural countries in the world.

Overview: Micro Drip is a social venture that has been transforming lives and farms in rural Pakistan since 2007.  Based on a successful model pioneered in India by a company called IDEI, Micro Drip sells low-priced drip irrigation units and training services to Pakistan’s poorest and most water-starved farmers.  Micro Drip is partially financed by Acumen Fund, a social venture fund that recently launched an agriculture investment portfolio with backing from the Gates Foundation.

“Joel, thanks for the interview.  What role do you play in the Micro Drip project in Pakistan?”

“As a 2009 Acumen Fund Fellow, I was assigned to work with Micro Drip, an irrigation solutions company that sells low-cost drip irrigation systems to poor farmers.  I am operating in a strategic capacity with Micro Drip in the areas of Organizational Development, Marketing, and Sales.”

“What is the overall importance and potential impact of Micro Drip in Pakistan?”

“Pakistan is in the bottom 25% of countries in the world in terms of rainfall.  Agriculture is the largest sector of the economy, employing 66% of the country.  Agriculture uses 96% of Pakistan’s water.  Aging infrastructure and a population increase of 4 million people per year are putting the current system under severe strain. . .”  “If the country doesn’t do something major now to reverse this trend, then it is estimated that in 2020, one out of every three Pakistanis will be affected by the water crisis.  Drip irrigation is a way to reduce the amount of water necessary for irrigating crops all the while increasing yields and reducing the costs of inputs. . .”  “The Pakistani government has dedicated over USD 1 billion to high efficiency irrigation systems, yet they are alienating 86% of all Pakistani farmers who have less than 12.5 acres of land.  Micro Drip is the only company in Pakistan that is focusing directly on small farmers.”

“What impact have you seen from the project on the individual lives of farmers and their families?”

“In spite of the fact that drip irrigation has existed for over a hundred years, it is a very new concept in Pakistan. . . we are still waiting to evaluate the long term benefits from our initiative. . .”  “However, here’s the story of one of our pilot farmers:

Narain in Wadhan Jo Wandhio, Thar Desert

With support from Thardeep Rural Support Programme, Narain was able to install drip irrigation on six acres of land.  Narain planted sunflowers and when compared to the six acres he grew on flood irrigation, he saw the following results:

60% increase in income
25% reduction in irrigation costs
50% reduction in fertilizer costs
Ten fold increase in net income

Narain remarked that he saw two major benefits to drip irrigation.  Firstly, he did not have to rely solely on the monsoon rains to irrigate.  Secondly, his family did not need to migrate to find jobs as laborers during the off season as they could grow off season crops.  Narain stated that ‘approximately 100 families have migrated this year but we did not migrate because we had our drip irrigation system to fall back on.’”

“People have been farming in Pakistan for thousands of years – perhaps some of the oldest agriculturalists in the world.  Surely they have adapted good systems to fit their soil and environment.  Why the need for new technologies?  How would you describe the proper balance between technology and tradition in these circumstances?”

“Tradition for tradition’s sake is not necessarily a good thing.  Before tractors, tradition dictated that farmers use bullocks to till the soil.  Before fertilizer, tradition dictated that  farmers accept lower yields and significantly more labor by using farmyard manure.  Before drip irrigation, tradition dictated that farmers waste water and stunt natural plant growth through flood irrigation. . .”

“The farmers we work with do not suffer from a lack of innovation, but rather a lack of knowledge.  The reality is that the current technology for irrigating crops in Pakistan, flood irrigation, is far inferior to drip irrigation.  Flood irrigation actually stunts plant growth because of a constant cycle of flood and drought. . .”  “Water comes once every eight or fifteen days depending upon the farmers location on the network. . .” “For three days, the plants will literally be drowning in water and as a result will not grow.  Once the water level drops down to the roots, then the plant will grow.  After three days of growth, the plant will enter a state of drought, in which it will again stop growing.

Compare this to daily or every other day waterings on drip irrigation and you can understand why we see yield increases that can reach up to 100%. . .”

“What has been your most challenging personal experience in the course of implementing and managing this project?”

“Being a social enterprise is extremely challenging.  Unfortunately, I do not believe that these challenges are highlighted enough in the Base of the Pyramid community.  In Micro Drip’s case, we are a for-profit company that is seeking to sell a proven technology at a drastically cheaper cost when compared to standard systems.  Our systems are about a fifth of the cost of standard drip irrigation systems and yet we are finding that they are still a bit too expensive for our target market.  Our competitors remedy this by simply ignoring small farmers in favor of large farmers who can purchase large systems.  We, on the other hand, have elected to serve a market segment that is quite dispersed and requires financing.

The other major challenge is that we do not qualify for government subsidies because we have elected not to participate in bribery.  By standing by our ethical principles, we are automatically disqualified from large projects.  As a result, the road ahead will be tougher, but we believe that our goal to give small farmers control over their livelihood is more than worthwhile to continue the struggle.”

“On the personal front, I have learned to question my own basic assumptions.  When explaining how to calculate a farmer’s net profit to a room of Masters-level sales people, I was shocked to learn that they did not understand percentages.  If my own college-educated sales people did not understand basic mathematics, how were our customers going to understand?  What I have had to do is a take a step back and temper my optimism so that my expectations of what can be accomplished are at a more realistic level.  I’ve also had to work closely with our team to help train them in skills that they did not receive from their schooling.  The process is slow-moving, but thankfully, we are moving in the right direction.”

To learn more about Micro Drip: http://www.microdrip.pk/index.html

To learn more about the Acumen Fund: http://www.acumenfund.org/