Idea 290 of 500. Cluster 14: Farm to shelf
Growing what the country still imports: rice, big onions and dried chillies, on contract to the mills and the wholesalers, with drying sheds and stores so the farmer is not forced to sell at harvest
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
Ask a rice mill or a wholesaler how much rice, big onion or dried chilli they buy from abroad, and at what price they would buy it locally instead. Sign up five farmers to grow for that buyer, with the price agreed before planting. Find a dry store that can hold the crop after harvest. The proof is the first harvest sold at the agreed price.
- Who pays first
- A mill or wholesaler that buys onions or chillies from abroad and would rather buy them locally at a fixed price.
- What leaves today
- Money leaves to pay for food the country can grow; contracts and storage keep the farmer's price and the money at home.
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
- 273Vegetable drying: okra, jackfruit and gotukola as soup mixes and curry bases for Europe and the Gulf
- 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
Idea 290 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.