The turn of the year invites us to reflect on the past, Jacana has just evaluated the last 7 years and, thanks to your help, has come to some wonderful conclusions. We started small with business training and guiding entrepreneurs. After the first year, we specialised in providing water for small-scale entrepreneurs, from then on the ball really started rolling. Water turned out to be most important for farmers, but other questions came up. Much of those questions Jacana was able to answer substantively by training other “SMART entrepreneurs” to provide the requested products and services.
SMART entrepreneurs
Below are the most important “SMART entrepreneurs”:
SMARTechs have been developed to provide water to farmers, among others. Jacana has trained the following SMARTech entrepreneurs for this purpose:
Borehole siters. They survey the area and carry out Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) measurements to find the most suitable location for drilling a borehole and which technique can best be used to do so.
Drillers. They manually drill boreholes up to a maximum of 40 metres.
Drillers. They manually drill boreholes up to a maximum of 40 metres.
Solar pump installers. They install solar-powered pumps and they also make mobile solar-powered pumps. Farmers can easily take these mobile pumps to the field for irrigation.
Solar pump installers. They install solar-powered pumps and they also make mobile solar-powered pumps. Farmers can easily take these mobile pumps to the field for irrigation.
Rope pump producers. They make affordable hand pumps from locally available materials.
Rope pump producers. They make affordable hand pumps from locally available materials.
Designers and installers of solar systems. These entrepreneurs design systems (using locally available solar materials) and build solar systems tailored to the customer’s needs and budget, both for families and businesses. .
Designers and installers of solar systems. These entrepreneurs design systems (using locally available solar materials) and build solar systems tailored to the customer’s needs and budget, both for families and businesses. .
Producers of tools for beekeepers. A number of entrepreneurs are trained in making bee suits, hives and simple honey processing systems.
Producers of tools for beekeepers. A number of entrepreneurs are trained in making bee suits, hives and simple honey processing systems.
Greenhouse producers. They build affordable greenhouses or tunnels for farmers.
Greenhouse producers. They build affordable greenhouses or tunnels for farmers.
Poultry feed producers. They put together high-quality feed for poultry farmers, tailored to the type of poultry and purpose (e.g. egg-laying or meat). In doing so, they use locally available ingredients.
Poultry feed producers. They put together high-quality feed for poultry farmers, tailored to the type of poultry and purpose (e.g. egg-laying or meat). In doing so, they use locally available ingredients.
Oyster mushroom cultivators train local farmers in cultivating high-quality oyster mushrooms.
Oyster mushroom cultivators train local farmers in cultivating high-quality oyster mushrooms.
Jacana also provides training for farmers in “conservation farming“: this is a way of farming that is based as much as possible on the principles of organic farming and uses chemicals only where necessary.
Jacana also provides training for farmers in “conservation farming“: this is a way of farming that is based as much as possible on the principles of organic farming and uses chemicals only where necessary.
The following topics are covered:
- Financial planning of farming.
- Making compost and compost tea.
- Making organic pesticides.
- Organic tillage.
- Principles of agro-forestry.
- Anticipating climate change.
In short Jacana has not been idle. One thing led to another: having trained beekeepers, they started realising that it was not good to use pesticides, and the desire was born for organic farming training.
So far, Jacana has always written project proposals asking for one aspect of the above, for example water products or a project focusing on solar energy.
Everyone is unique
Jacana will, by 2023, offer people in rural villages a choice from the range of affordable solutions described above that have been developed in recent years as a result of requests from similar villages.
We do not deviate very far from our existing approach but focus a little more on individual demand.
We have planned, for instance, to set up a “SMART market” in villages. At this market, SMART entrepreneurs, trained in the past, will offer their services and products.
Small-scale entrepreneurs choose at the market in their rural villages, the product or service which suits them best and develop a simple business plan under Jacana’s guidance. We visit each potential beneficiary to examine the feasibility of the plan. Since people in these villages do not have capital, Jacana will sponsor a portion of the chosen product or service. Finally, Jacana will check the quality of each delivered product.
For example, you can think of a local barber who is interested in a small solar system that can run a trimmer, or a chicken farmer who can immediately save costs if he learns to make his own chicken feed, or a tree grower who will benefit enormously from a greenhouse and so on.
This promotes diversity of small-scale businesses within the village which will benefit the stability of the often very fragile local economy.
By-product
By-product of this approach is that SMART entrepreneurs gain more experience in marketing, they expand their customer base and create more word-of-mouth promotion for solutions that are still unknown to many (even outside the village).
We believe in this new approach. Do you?
If so, we ask for a small end-of-year contribution for this new project. You can do so via bank account: NL89 TRIO 0390 3594 16 SWIFT code TRIONL2U or via the web-site:
- € 3,825 raised now, still € 16,175 of € 20,000 needed. 19%