Starter Kit. Idea 493 of 500. Cluster 27
Rice, chilli and onion from the Vanni as branded produce, since the quality is known
The mechanism, from the book
The land, the lagoons and the savings of families abroad are waiting. What comes first is the small business.
The first step
Buy one bag each of Vanni rice, chilli and onion from a farmer, and repack small quantities with the district's name, the harvest date and the farmer's village. Sell them at one Colombo weekend market and ask every buyer what they would pay next time and whether they would order monthly. A list of buyers asking to reorder shows the name already carries value.
- Who pays first
- A Colombo household cook who knows the Vanni's produce by reputation and will pay more for a pack that guarantees where it came from.
- What leaves today
- The Vanni's produce is known for its quality yet sold unbranded, so the premium its reputation could earn never reaches the growers.
Ask first
- Department of Agriculture. Ask how rice, chilli and onion should be graded and stored for sale.
- Sri Lanka Standards Institution. Ask what a packed food label must show before it is sold.
Check before you spend
Confirm the labelling rules for packed food, that every pack comes from the named village, and a clean place to repack.
Find out these three numbers
- What does the farmer get now for a bag?
- What would a Colombo buyer pay for a branded pack?
- How many packs can you sell at one market?
A comparison from the book
Ethiopia. Chapter Eleven
"Owning the name did not change who got the money."
A known name helps only if you also own the packing and the customer.
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.