Starter Kit. Idea 284 of 500. Cluster 14
Vegetable box schemes for Colombo households, direct from a named farm
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.
The first step
Agree a weekly price with one farm for a mixed box of what is in season, then offer it to 20 households in one Colombo neighbourhood through a residents' group or a school parents' chat. Take payment in advance for 4 weeks. The number who pay, and how many renew after the first month, is the proof that a named farm beats the market stall.
- Who pays first
- A Colombo household that wants vegetables they can trust, from a farm they can name, delivered to the door once a week.
- What leaves today
- The farmer sells to a collector at the gate, so the retail price of good vegetables in the city is earned by the chain in between.
Ask first
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask whether delivering produce boxes to homes needs a trading permit.
Check before you spend
Whether the farm agrees a weekly price in writing, and how produce is kept fresh and clean between the field and the doorstep.
Find out these three numbers
- What would a household pay for a weekly box?
- How many households in one neighbourhood would sign up?
- What does delivery cost per box each week?
A comparison from the book
Switzerland. Chapter Six
"sell cheese and eggs at 11 o'clock at night without employing anybody to watch them."
A farm can sell straight to households once both sides trust the price and the produce.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.