Idea 273 of 500. Cluster 14: Farm to shelf
Vegetable drying: okra, jackfruit and gotukola as soup mixes and curry bases for Europe and the Gulf
The mechanism, from the book
The smallholder sells raw to a collector at the gate and the collector sells to a packer who puts his own name on it. Denmark's farmers got rich the day they owned the creamery.
Every idea in cluster 14 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Dry small batches of okra, jackfruit and gotukola in a simple solar or electric dryer, and mix them with spices into 2 soup mixes and 2 curry bases, each in a sealed pouch with cooking instructions. Cook each one yourself after 4 weeks on the shelf to check it keeps. Then send samples with a price per carton to 3 importers or Sri Lankan grocers in Europe and the Gulf and ask what they would change. One sample order is the proof.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan grocer or food importer in Europe or the Gulf whose customers want a curry or a soup from home without hunting for the fresh vegetables.
- What leaves today
- Vegetables rot in the glut season or sell raw at the gate, when dried and mixed they travel and sell under the island's own name.
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. ElevenThe Mechanisms
Denmark's co-operative dairies and the binding contract that held them
More from cluster 14
- 271A farmers' co-operative dairy in the hill country selling cheese and yoghurt under its own brand
- 272Buffalo-milk mozzarella and ghee for the hotels and for export
- 274Frozen tropical fruit pulp for the smoothie chains of the world
- 275Heritage rice varieties grown under contract and sold at 10 times the commodity price
- 276Organic certification services for smallholder groups, shared so the cost is bearable
- 277Mushroom farms supplying the hotels, since most are still imported
Idea 273 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.