Starter Kit. Idea 293 of 500. Cluster 14
Farm-machinery hire pools, so that a 2-acre farmer can afford a harvester for a day
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
Survey the small farmers of one village about which machine they need most at harvest, what they pay now to hire it, and how long they wait. Then find an owner of that machine willing to rent it through you for a fee per acre. Take bookings for the coming harvest with a small deposit. Deposits from enough farmers to fill the machine's days are the proof.
- Who pays first
- A two-acre farmer who cannot afford a harvester but loses grain every day the harvest is late, and pays for a day's hire.
- What leaves today
- Small farms harvest by hand or wait for a machine, and the grain lost to delay is value that never reaches the market.
Ask first
- Department of Agriculture. Ask whether they support machinery hire schemes for small farmers.
- Department of the Registrar of Companies. Ask which company form suits a shared machinery pool.
Check before you spend
Whether the machine owner and hirers sign an agreement covering damage, fuel and the operator, and what insurance covers the machine.
Find out these three numbers
- What do small farmers pay now to hire a harvester?
- How long do they wait for one at harvest?
- How many days a season can one machine work?
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.