CABD
CENTER FOR AGRI BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
IRDG FOCUSING ON COMMERCIALISATION OF ORGANIC AND PROTECTED CULTIVATION
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Characteristics required for MSME projects for rural development of the Northern Province
Characteristics required for MSME projects for rural development of the Northern Province
Naga Narendran explains the salient characteristics required for projects to achieve rapid positive development impact in the war affected rural population, especially the women of the province.
"The rural women of the war affected provinces, particularly suffer from heavy physical and psychological burden. Over 55 thousands of them head up their respective household. Their day to day domestic responsibilities of tending to children, elderly and other dependents of the family itself take a massive toll.
They generally carryout subsistence based livelihood that has no possibility of earning a decent wage or make any savings. They are invariably depended on handouts either from the government program or from the diaspora community.
The scale of their production or output is so low they become easy picking for the middlemen who will reward them only with 30% to 50% of its commercial value if sold to a wholesaler.
These women need to produce large quantities in order to trade directly with the wholesale market. Obviously they can not do this by themselves, but could come together and produce or grow at a larger scale. However, producing in range of sizes, quality, maturity levels of products will not find wholesale premium price. Hence, the women will have to come together and work collectively so they could produce homogeneous products of the same variety.
They could use their own land but well placed to seek technical and technological support as a group. If they grow uniform products they will collectively move to a commercial level that will reward them with premium prices and provide assurance of market. They could even grow for large agribusinesses of the south.
This is only a matter of reorienting their current efforts for a far better profit outcome.
Their logistical costs too will reduce significantly as they will have the required larger scale by coming together as a group.
IRDG will endeavour to take sustainable jobs to their homes and connect these women to the national wholesale markets.
IRDG's projects in progress
IRDG's projects in progress
•KHC Ltd (Kalmadu HappyChicken in Kilinochchi Kalmadunagar)
–Funding “Enterprise Sri Lanka” Rs 80 million, 148Farmer producers, Rs 215 Turnover pa.
•Mullai Commercial Peanut Manufacturers Ltd (Mullaithivu) Rs 55 million
–720 Acres, 345 farmers, farmer grouping initiative. Funding ONUR and Enterprise Sri Lanka
•Alamkulam Goat breeding project (Vavunia) Estimate Rs 15 Million
–30 Women farmer producers,300 goats will expand to 5,000 in three years. Funding Enterprise Sri Lanka and V4U a Uk Charity
•Commercial Organic agriculture model farm including protected cultivation models. Estimated around Rs25 million (being assessed)
–Large scale commercially viable farm two 8-Acre 15-Acre farms
–Objectives of product selection for one village one product candidates
–Funding to be negotiated
•Products and village selection research project
-project team is assessing commercial feasibility of several product options and also researching villages for implementation
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