(TELEFOOD PROJECT EXAMPLE)
FISH DRYING IN ... DISTRICT (ASIA)
TARGET GROUP
The project will directly benefit 23 members of the ... Women Farmers' group and indirectly other members of the remaining 9 women farmers groups. And those farmers involved in similar fish raising and are near the vicinity of the plant will be also benefited by this project. The plant will generate part-time employment opportunity for rural women. The plant will also have a multiplier effect on generation of employment and income. Because, each party involved will make profit and tend to expand their activities each time they make more profit.
The plant will be established at Ward No -10, ...of ... Municipality. This location is 8.43 km away from ... and is almost at the middle of the 10 women farmers' groups involved in such fish raising.
BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
... district lies in the ... belt and has a large number of publicly owned waterbodies. Such waterbodies are given on lease to the private fish growers in group. The leasing policy has encouraged women farmers groups. There are 700 such waterbodies in ... and thus shows a good possibility of expanding production in the future. However, due to the perishable nature of the product, farmers are reluctant to expand the production with the fear of problem in selling. In this regard, if some project on fish drying can be introduced here, it will add significantly to the production of fish as well as increase the income of the women farmers through the value added production. There are already 10 such women farmers' groups involved in such contract fish raising in such publicly owned waterbodies.
If this project is implemented successfully, the almost wasted waterbodies will be fully utilized as soon as the group involved in this project will make significant income out of this project. On the other hand, the increased fish production will encourage the farmers to maintain the waterbodies which ultimately help to conserve the biodiversity and thus help maintain the environment conducive for human development
OBJECTIVES
The objective of the project will be to establish a women group managed fish drying enterprise aimed at:
- prolonging the keeping quality if fish,
- generating income through the sale of dry fish,
- solve the problem of high cost of transportation of raw fish.
DURATION:
one year.
OUTPUTS
There is no additional production programme launched for processing purpose. This programme is expected to operate with the farmers' present level of production. These fish will be selected from the production that comes from the ponds operated by the women farmers. The processing of fish applies to drying of the fish captured from the fish ponds. The process includes smoking and drying. Smoking will be done by using locally prepared traditional hot smoking system with smoking chamber. The drying is done to reduce the weight of the produce and extend the edible life of fish. The drying will be done by using solar-drier. These are ambient solar driers with metal and wooden body and glass roofing having ventilation. Such dryers will be operated by the women farmers' group as the fish raising is done by the group in the leased ponds owned publicly. As the production site is in the remote area, it will be easy to handle the marketing activities if the weight of fish is reduced by drying. Because the dried fish has a longer life, it avoids the risk of low sale in the peak season.
The processing plant will be established at the production site itself at a place as approved by the group in their discussion. In the beginning, the group will process only their produce. This is planned to avoid the risk of marketing the produce at the beginning. As the group will go along with the business and gain experience, the plant may be operated at the full scale for which the fresh fish may either be produced by the group itself by expanding the production area, or may buy from the neighborhood.
The processing flow chart is shown in Figure 1. The processing is mainly the drying and/or smoking of fish.
INPUTS/BUDGET
The following materials will be required by the project.
|
Name |
NO. |
Unit Price (Local currency) |
Total cost (Local currency) |
|
A. Materials |
|||
|
Solar drier (20-30 kg/batch) |
5 |
12000 |
60000 |
|
Cabinet drier (with accessories) |
1 |
150000 |
150000 |
|
Puncturing machine |
5 |
10000 |
50000 |
|
Grinder |
1 (10-20 kg/hour) |
45000 |
45000 |
|
Weighing scale |
2 (20 kg), 3 (1 kg) |
5000 2000 |
10000 6000 |
|
Heat sealer |
3 pieces |
6000 |
18000 |
|
Plastic bowl |
1doz. (30 kg) |
300 |
3600 |
|
Plastic bowl |
1doz. (15 kg) |
200 |
2400 |
|
Plastic bucket |
1doz.. (15 kg) |
350 |
4200 |
|
Packaging materials |
|||
|
Cartoons (5 kg, 10 kg) |
5000 |
||
|
PP bags (200g, 500g, 1000g) |
20 kg |
10000 |
|
|
Labels |
5000 pieces |
6000 |
|
|
Gloves |
3 doz |
4000 |
|
|
Masks |
3 doz. |
3000 |
|
|
Caps |
3 doz. |
3000 |
|
|
Sub total (A) |
380200 |
||
|
B. Infrastructure |
100000 |
||
|
Shed |
100000 |
||
|
Working house |
200000 |
||
|
Sub total (B) |
70000 |
||
|
C. Transport costs |
650200 |
||
|
Total (A+B+C) |
US$ 9500 |
(1 US$ = local currency 68)
1 Number of knives look too many, but these are of different shapes and sizes required for scraping of scales and removing viscera. Of course, some are spares for emergency purposes.
2 Instead of deep freezer we have increased the refrigerator by one number. Because ice is not available, two refrigerators are needed for everyday use.
GENDER IMPACT APPRAISAL
The fact is that above 95 per cent of the economically active women are engaged in agriculture production. The women involvement is more obvious in the production of fish for the local market. However, most of the decisions made on the use of household resources are controlled by men. Likewise, majority of the projects financed by government are not focused to uplift living standard of rural women. As a result, rural women are virtually deprived of know-how required for income generation to uplift their standard of living. Thus, this project is designed to help rural women understand the technology of fish drying and generate income.
SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR
The project needs to run smoothly and efficiently even after the completion of the project. For this to happen, women group members in support of District Agricultural Officers (DADO), must complete each activities in time which are real indicators of performance and future sustainability. The following indicators may be used to assess future sustainability:
- Plant production capacity maintained constantly at least for five years.
- Women group developed into cooperative.
- Increased income of the individual members of the group.
- Increased amount of group saving fund as their welfare fund.
- Expanded volume of business.
- Disposable income in the women's hands.
- Increase in women's managerial capability in making decisions.
- Disposal of the added income.
ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL
There will be no adverse effect on the environment as fish raising in the publicly owned waterbodies help maintain such waterbodies. Solar energy will be the source of power for fish drying and thus will have no direct effect on the environment. However, the smoking process will release some smoke to the environment as well as there will be additional demand for fuel wood. Nevertheless, this demand is expected to be met by the pruned branches of the trees and thus will have no direct bearing on the forest to affect the environment.
Monitoring and reporting arrangements
This project will be implemented by DADO, with the technical help from Central Food Research Laboratory (CFRL) under the guidance of WFDD/MOA. Since the inception of this idea in January 1998, we were discussing these projects to finalize the final implementation strategies. We now confirm that each level (i.e. WFDD/MOA, CFRL and DADO) is very much committed to make this project a success. This project will not require additional manpower for its implementation. Quarterly and final reports should be submitted to FAO representative, responsible for monitoring the progress of the project and ensuring , through independent audit, that the funds are used correctly.
Project Implementation Committee (PIC)
The PIC will be responsible for the management of project activities, after its establishment, will meet every trimester to evaluate the progress of the project activities and propose modifications as needed.
The members and representatives from the following organization will form PIC;
- Representative- Ministry of Agriculture
- District Agriculture Development Officer (DADO) or designated Subject Matter Specialist
- Representative - Women Farmers Group involved in the project
- Representative- Central Food Research Laboratory
- Representative - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Representative - Embassy
Responsibility of Women Farmers Development Division, Ministry of Agriculture: Settle national level policy matters related to project implementation guidelines. Linkage with the ... Embassy, FAO and report the progress.
Responsibility of DADO: Overall responsible for the implementation of the project. SMS will be responsible to look-after technical aspects of the programme. Send the progress timely to MOA.
Responsibility of Central Food Research Laboratory (CFRL): Responsible for the technical aspects like appropriate plant selection and establishment, operationalize the plant, train the farmers on maintenance of the plant and the quality of the produce, and so forth and report to MOA.
Responsibility of FAO: Responsible for handling the financial aspects of the project, procurement, and handing over of the equipment to the respective DADOs.
SCHEDULE OF THE ACTIVITIES
|
MONTHS |
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|
Activities |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
|
Site selection for dryer |
-- |
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Production package training |
-- |
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Drying package training |
-- |
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Marketing package training |
-- |
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|
Procurement of equipment |
-- |
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|
Installation of Plant |
-- |
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Test production and Marketing |
-- |
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Production monitoring |
-- |
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One day orientation- environment |
-- |
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Modifications as required |
-- |
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Start of commercial production |
-- |
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Marketing |
-- |
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Follow-up the programme |
--- |
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Refresher training |
-- |
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Impact measurement/ Reporting |
-- |
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Sustainability assessment |
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Note: Number along the months applies to the first, second , third, and so forth month of the start of the activity and not January as 1.