Starter Kit. Idea 489 of 500. Cluster 27
The island's bananas sold by name, kolikuttu, seeni and ambul, in Colombo and in the Sri Lankan shops abroad, not as "banana"
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
Buy kolikuttu, seeni and ambul bananas from growers you know, grade them, and pack each kind in bunches with its name on the label. Ask two supermarkets in Colombo and a Sri Lankan grocer abroad what they would pay for named, graded bananas. Supply one of them for a month. The proof is the shop reordering by name, and its customers asking for it.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan grocer abroad, or a Colombo supermarket, whose customers know the kinds and want them by name.
- What leaves today
- Every kind is sold as banana at one price; a name on the bunch lets the best kinds earn what they are worth.
Ask first
- Department of Agriculture. Ask which named banana kinds grow where, and in what months.
- Sri Lanka Export Development Board. Ask what is needed to send fresh bananas to shops abroad.
Check before you spend
Confirm the plant health papers for any shipment abroad, the labelling each shop needs, and how each kind ripens on the way.
Find out these three numbers
- What will a shop pay for a named, graded bunch?
- How many growers can supply each kind every week?
- How long does each kind keep after cutting?
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.