Idea 234 of 500. Cluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
A cinnamon exchange: published daily prices by grade, so the smallholder knows what his bale is worth
The mechanism, from the book
The imitation out-earns the original. Vietnam earns more from cassia than Sri Lanka does from true cinnamon, because the cassia arrives on the shelf as a product and the cinnamon arrives at the port as a bale.
Every idea in cluster 11 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Visit 5 cinnamon smallholders and 3 collectors in one district this week and ask each what they paid or received for each grade today. Write the prices down, post them in a free group chat for smallholders, and repeat every day for a fortnight. The proof is how many smallholders join and whether any say the prices changed what they accepted.
- Who pays first
- A processor or exporter who wants a reliable daily price reference by grade and will pay for the full data once smallholders trust it.
- What leaves today
- Smallholders sell their bales without knowing what each grade is worth, so the collectors keep the difference and the grower cannot bargain.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. FourThe Same Failure, Four Times
Why cassia out-earns true cinnamon - Ch. ElevenThe Mechanisms
The single desk that ends undercutting and funds brand and quality
More from cluster 11
- 221Cinnamon quills in retail packs with the grade printed, since almost no consumer knows the grades exist
- 222Cinnamon sticks as a branded gift, tied and boxed, sold at every airport in the world where we have a shop
- 223Cinnamon-leaf and bark oils bottled for the aromatherapy trade under a Sri Lankan name
- 224Cinnamon-infused honey, sugar and salt as a range
- 225A "true cinnamon" education campaign run by producers, aimed at bakers and chefs abroad
- 226Cinnamon farm stays in the south-west, where the peeling is the show
Idea 234 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.