A grassroots innovation that offers most of the advantages of conventional micro-irrigation at a much lower establishment cost. Pepsee micro-irrigation systems slowly and regularly apply water directly to the root zone of plants through a network of economically designed plastic pipes and low-discharge emitters. Technically speaking pepsee systems use low-density polythene (65 to 130 microns) tubes which are locally assembled. Being a low-pressure system the water source can be an overhead tank or a manually operated water pump to lift water from a shallow water table. Such a system costs less than USD 40 per hectare for establishment. But the tubes have a short life span of one or two years. The critical factor is the low entry cost. Pepsee systems thus act as ‘stepping stones’ for poor farmers who are facing water stress but are short of capital and cannot afford to risk relatively large investment in a technology that is new to them, and whose returns are uncertain.