CNG-run irrigation pump invented recently by the scientists of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research can save around 70 per cent fuel cost than that of the diesel-run ones. The locally invented pump will require only Tk 12.75 as fuel cost while the diesel-run pump will need Tk 38 for irrigation per one and half hour, the scientists of the BCSIR said during a trial operation of the new pump in the city on July 12. The scientists hoped that they would be able to market the new pumps within next two months.

The director in-charge and team leader of the Pilot Plant and Process Development Centre, M Abu Raihan, said, ‘We will try to reduce the irrigation cost by 85 per cent by using the technology.’ He claimed that they could bring down the irrigation cost by 70 per cent. To reduce the excess diesel cost in irrigation, a simple technology has been used in the pump like dual fuel system which needs 95 per cent CNG and 5 per cent diesel for operating the pump.

The price of an irrigation pump will be between Tk 12,000 and Tk 15,000 with conversion kit of Tk 5,000, it will reduce the extra irrigation cost in agricultural production. The cost of agricultural output in the country is higher than that of the other countries in the world which has made the farming unprofitable for the farmers, they pointed out. There is no alternative other than the technological revolution to bring about significant changes in agriculture.

The country has also a growing demand for fuel and electricity and its significant price hike is hampering the agricultural production. Bangladesh needs around Tk 9.50 for producing paddy per kilogram which accounts for 25 per cent especially for irrigation cost. This production cost is higher than that of the neighbouring India which costs only Tk 7, according to the statistics of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.

The government has undertaken a two-year project ‘CNG Conversion of Irrigation Pump’ under the Pilot Plant and Process Development Centre in 2006-07 involving only Tk 1 lakh. The scientists had invented the irrigation pump within nine months since the project was launched in June, 2006.