Starter Kit. Idea 32 of 500. Cluster 2
Coconut processing demonstrations
The mechanism, from the book
The craft cannot be copied and the object can. In Europe people queue to watch glass being blown and then buy the glass.
The first step
Arrange with a coconut farmer or a small mill to show visitors the whole chain in one hour: climbing, husking, scraping, pressing the oil. Offer it to three guesthouses nearby at a fixed price per guest, with a bottle of oil to take home. The first paid group, and bottles bought after the show, are the proof.
- Who pays first
- Families and curious travellers staying nearby, who use coconut every day at home and have never seen where it starts.
- What leaves today
- Coconuts leave cheaply as nuts or oil; showing the process sells the skill and moves the oil at a visitor's price.
Ask first
- Coconut Development Authority. Ask which processors could host visitors and what hygiene rules apply to them.
- the area Medical Officer of Health. Ask what hygiene standard a processing area open to visitors needs.
Check before you spend
That visitors are kept safe from machines and blades, that any food sold meets hygiene expectations, and what insurance covers guests on site.
Find out these three numbers
- What will visitors pay for a demonstration and coconut products to take?
- How many coconut products can be shown in one hour?
- Which tour operators would add the stop to a day trip?
A comparison from the book
Europe. Chapter Five
"In Europe people queue to watch glass being blown"
People pay to watch something being made, and then buy what they watched.
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.