Starter Kit. Idea 488 of 500. Cluster 27
Mangosteen and rambutan flown fresh in season to the Gulf and Singapore in graded boxes, not left to the roadside
The mechanism, from the book
Fruit the world wants, sold in a heap by the road. Grading, a name and a cold box make the heap an export and the season a reason to visit.
The first step
In the season, buy mangosteen and rambutan from growers, grade them by size and quality, and pack them in cooled, labelled boxes. Ask a freight agent at the airport what it costs to fly a box to the Gulf or Singapore. Send sample boxes to two fruit importers there and ask what grade and price they buy at. The proof is one importer's paid order.
- Who pays first
- A fruit importer in the Gulf or Singapore who buys tropical fruit by grade and pays more for boxes that arrive fresh.
- What leaves today
- Mangosteen and rambutan are sold at the roadside in the season; graded and flown fresh, the same fruit earns a foreign price.
Ask first
- Department of Agriculture. Ask what plant health papers fresh fruit flown abroad needs.
- Sri Lanka Export Development Board. Ask which importers in the Gulf and Singapore buy tropical fruit by grade.
Check before you spend
Confirm the plant health papers each buying country asks for, the cool chain from farm to aircraft, and written terms with growers.
Find out these three numbers
- What does an importer in the Gulf pay per box?
- What does it cost to fly one box?
- How many days does the fruit stay fresh after picking?
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.