1. Product Description: Spades and shovels are basic hand tools for all types of construction, building, agricultural, soil conservation, water and forests resource development works.
2. Rationale: Visualize Amhara land from north to south and from east to west; and one finds millions of things to do to build the basic infrastructures of the Region, to improve the social and economic condition of the Amhara people and to conserve, protect, and develop the natural resources of Amhara land. To do all these things spades and shovels are required. If 10.1 million Amhara between the age of 15- and 60 are mobilized and they are given spades and shovels at least to conserve and protect their soil resources by building all types of soil conservation structures, Amhara land would be free from the problem of soil erosion in a matter of 2 to 4 years. To do this one basic requirement is to provide every able bodied Amhara with a shovel and spade. Like many other industrial products, spades and shovels are brought to the Amhara Region from other parts of the country. But these are basic products which the Region should be self- sufficient and a plant which will produce these basic hand tools must be established.
3. Market Potential: In rural Amhara land shovel and spade are basic hand tools for every household. These tools are used around the house as well as on farm plots. They are also used in community works like tree planting, building terraces, constructing small irrigation works, rural roads, etc. There are 3.4 million families in rural areas and this can give us an indication of the potential market for shovels and spades in the Amhara Region. If we assume that at least 25 percent of the rural families will have two spades and one shovel, total market demand for these tools will be about 850,000 shovels and 1,700,000 spades. Even with this conservative assumption, the demand for the tools is very large. A plant which produces 100,000 shovels and 200,000 spades per year can be a viable plant for establishing in the Region.
4. Source of Raw Material: The main “raw material “for the plant is gnot iron. Other factories in the country import this input. So will the plant to be established in the Amhara Region
5. Production Process & Technology: The manufacturing process of shovels and spades involves four parallel groups of operations. These are (a) preparation of the sections of shovels and spades (b) preparation of wooden handles, (c) preparation of Y- shaped handles and (d) assembly of spades or shovels with the wooden handles. The first operation which is the most important one has a number of sub-operations like cutting strips, punching blanks, heating, forging blanks, forming of handle tubes or holes, punching of fixing holes- Major machinery and equipment include eccentric power shear press, heating equipment for blanks, friction screw press, grinding machine, punching tools for shovels and spades, shovel embossing tool, punching tool for handle fixing hole, handle tube rolling tool, spade embossing tool, punching tools for steel handle parts.
6. Estimated Investment: Birr 6.16 million of which Birr 750,000 will be for building and the balance for plant and machinery is the estimated investment.
7. Benefit to the Region’s Economy: Contributes to the development of the Region’s physical infrastructures including natural resource conservation, introduces new skills and technology, saves financial resource of the Region.