More CA$H from CASHEWS for farmers
Donation protected
Never heard about Lombok ? No wonder. It’s the island next to famous Bali in the Indonesian archipelago. If Bali is the island of the Gods, Lombok can be said the island of cashews.
Unfortunately, poor farming families do not get much benefit from this huge potential. As agriculture is only possible during the 4 months of the rainy season, locals use cashew to access cash to pay for food and school fees. This means they sell their upcoming cashew harvest at a very low price and are unable to add any economic value. This is how it works.
In North Lombok (which is the main cashew harvesting area), more than 80% of households have cashew trees orchard (one to two hectares on average) with an estimate yield of 1 ton per season per family. Harvesting period last from August to November. However, as people need money before hand, they sell their harvest in advance at an estimated price of 5’000IDR (less than 0.30 USD) per kg. This is an undervalued price as during the harvest season they could sell their unprocessed cashews up to 25’000 IDR (1.5 USD) per kg.
In this type of arrangement, they have to pay back in nature, meaning they have no option to set processed nuts with an added value. The entire benefit is generated in favor of the credit givers, who will then resell the products at the real market price.
How can we change this? By investing in a single machine we can process 25 kg/hour, instead of 1 kg/ hour of cashews shelled by hand. This will boost the level of revenue generated for the benefit of the farming communities. By raising the value of the cashew nuts through simple processing, we want to increase the possible income of rural households and prevent them to borrow money at a very disadvantaging conditions. In addition, we have started a partnership with the village women’s cooperative to strengthen they managing capacities, their access to market and in the future, setting-up a revolving fund for the members to access no-interest credit.
What do we propose? Our idea is to propose an alternative to the farmers of our region and give them access to a shelling machine. They can then choose to shell their cashews and sell them by their own means or we would buy the unprocessed cashews from them at the normal market price and take care of logistics, marketing and sales through our own brand.
What are you investing in? The funds raised will be used to invest in a cashew shelling machine, a cashew peeling machine, a stocking facility, a roasting oven, a drying system, licensing to be able to sell the products and packaging.
Who are we? We are a family-owned organic farm established in the North of Lombok. We are very appalled by the living conditions of rural families in our neighborhood.
Our goals are to promote :
- organic farming by encouraging local farmers to adopt organic agriculture, so that the soil fertility can be preserved, quality food can be produced and the health of the farmers and their family can be preserved
- eco-tourism by partnering with a local guides association, farmers and women cooperative, we support local economic development and local products. We also promote local handicraft bay organizing traditional weaving workshops. Our bungalows are solar powered and build with natural products.
If you want to learn more about us, visit our website www.saifana-lombok.com
Unfortunately, poor farming families do not get much benefit from this huge potential. As agriculture is only possible during the 4 months of the rainy season, locals use cashew to access cash to pay for food and school fees. This means they sell their upcoming cashew harvest at a very low price and are unable to add any economic value. This is how it works.
In North Lombok (which is the main cashew harvesting area), more than 80% of households have cashew trees orchard (one to two hectares on average) with an estimate yield of 1 ton per season per family. Harvesting period last from August to November. However, as people need money before hand, they sell their harvest in advance at an estimated price of 5’000IDR (less than 0.30 USD) per kg. This is an undervalued price as during the harvest season they could sell their unprocessed cashews up to 25’000 IDR (1.5 USD) per kg.
In this type of arrangement, they have to pay back in nature, meaning they have no option to set processed nuts with an added value. The entire benefit is generated in favor of the credit givers, who will then resell the products at the real market price.
How can we change this? By investing in a single machine we can process 25 kg/hour, instead of 1 kg/ hour of cashews shelled by hand. This will boost the level of revenue generated for the benefit of the farming communities. By raising the value of the cashew nuts through simple processing, we want to increase the possible income of rural households and prevent them to borrow money at a very disadvantaging conditions. In addition, we have started a partnership with the village women’s cooperative to strengthen they managing capacities, their access to market and in the future, setting-up a revolving fund for the members to access no-interest credit.
What do we propose? Our idea is to propose an alternative to the farmers of our region and give them access to a shelling machine. They can then choose to shell their cashews and sell them by their own means or we would buy the unprocessed cashews from them at the normal market price and take care of logistics, marketing and sales through our own brand.
What are you investing in? The funds raised will be used to invest in a cashew shelling machine, a cashew peeling machine, a stocking facility, a roasting oven, a drying system, licensing to be able to sell the products and packaging.
Who are we? We are a family-owned organic farm established in the North of Lombok. We are very appalled by the living conditions of rural families in our neighborhood.
Our goals are to promote :
- organic farming by encouraging local farmers to adopt organic agriculture, so that the soil fertility can be preserved, quality food can be produced and the health of the farmers and their family can be preserved
- eco-tourism by partnering with a local guides association, farmers and women cooperative, we support local economic development and local products. We also promote local handicraft bay organizing traditional weaving workshops. Our bungalows are solar powered and build with natural products.
If you want to learn more about us, visit our website www.saifana-lombok.com
Organizer
William Renault
Organizer
