Idea 292 of 500. Cluster 14: Farm to shelf
Palmyrah products from the north: toddy, jaggery, fibre, fruit, the whole tree the way the coconut is a whole nut
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
Buy small amounts of palmyrah jaggery, fruit pulp and fibre from tappers and weavers in one northern village, and note the price of each at the gate. Pack them well and offer them together as a palmyrah gift box to a Sri Lankan grocery and a hotel shop. Record what sells and at what price, and ask each buyer which item they would reorder. The best seller tells you where to start processing.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan family abroad from the north who want the taste of the palmyrah they grew up with, and will pay for it packed properly.
- What leaves today
- The palmyrah is used piece by piece and sold raw, when the whole tree could be processed into products the way the coconut is.
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
- 273Fruit and vegetable drying: mango, pineapple, papaya, jackfruit and okra as premium snacks and soup mixes 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 ten times the commodity price
- 276Organic certification services for smallholder groups, shared so the cost is bearable
Idea 292 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.