THE FEASIBILITY OF THE ARECA PALM PLATE BUSINESS

Amrita School of Engineering

In accordance with

The Technical University of Delft

Tiffany Clein& Anita Tang

Supervisor: Asst. Professor R. Pramod

Date: 2016, December 10

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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 4

2. THE MARKET ...................................................................................................................................... 6

2.2 Target market ................................................................................................................................ 6

2.3 Market trends ................................................................................................................................ 6

3.PRODUCTION TARGET ...................................................................................................................... 7

4. HUMAN RESOURCES ........................................................................................................................ 7

4.1 Selection of personnel ............................................................................................................... 7

4.2 Function description ................................................................................................................... 7

4.3 Development of personnel ........................................................................................................ 8

4.4 Labor conditions ......................................................................................................................... 9

4.5 Wage system ............................................................................................................................... 9

5.QUALITY CONTROL STANDARD .................................................................................................... 10

6. MANUFACTURING PROCESS ........................................................................................................ 11

7. COST STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................... 12

7.1 Land and building ..................................................................................................................... 12

7.2 Machinery and equipment ...................................................................................................... 12

7.3 Raw materials ............................................................................................................................ 12

7.4 Staff and labour ........................................................................................................................ 13

7.5 Other expenses ......................................................................................................................... 13

7.6 Working capital ......................................................................................................................... 14

7.7 Total capital investment ........................................................................................................... 14

7.8 Cost of production (per annum) ............................................................................................. 14

7.9 Sales proceeds (per annum) .................................................................................................... 15

7.10 Profitability (before income tax) ........................................................................................... 15

7.11 Manufactures / suppliers of machine .................................................................................. 15

7.12 Suppliers of raw materials ..................................................................................................... 16

7.13 Implementation period .......................................................................................................... 16

8. SOCIAL ECONOMIC ASPECTS ....................................................................................................... 17

8.1 Challenges ................................................................................................................................. 17

8.2 Partnerships ............................................................................................................................... 18

8.3 Development and beneficiaries .............................................................................................. 18

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8.4 Impacts: economic, environmental and policy ..................................................................... 19

9. FEASABILITY OF THE PROJECT ...................................................................................................... 20

9.1 Technical feasibility ...................................................................................................................... 20

9.3 Implementation ........................................................................................................................... 21

9.4 Motivation and willingness .......................................................................................................... 21

9.5 Needs ........................................................................................................................................... 21

9.6 Requirements .............................................................................................................................. 22

9.7 Risk management ........................................................................................................................ 22

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INTRODUCTION

This report looks into the feasibility and plans for realizing a business venture in the state

Karnataka in the village Byse, near Bangalore. The project is organized by the private

University of Amrita as part of their program named Live-in-labs.

The university is situated on 5 places in India andranked 181 in the Times Higher Education

BRICS and Emerging Economies Rankings. Which mean that it ranked as the number 1 of the

private schools in India and 15th amongst other universities in India.

Amrita University helps many villages alongside Amma’s SeRVe organization by providing

sanitation and electricity, but after investing to achieve the basics it becomes important that

the villages become self-reliant. The university collaborates with different international

universities to achieve improvements in villages

The Technical University of Delft will be participating in creating a successful business venture

in the village Byse together with Amrita University. The team will consist of two students from

the Technical University of Delft; T. Clein, A. Tang, and four students from Amrita University

School of Engineering; R. Nikhil, N. Raahul, N. Satheesh and M. Shivpriyan, supervised by Asst.

Professor R. Pramod.

There are two focus points. First is on creating a successful business venture in the village of

Byse, were plates are made from the areca palm leaf sheath. Secondly there will be looked at

improving equipment and machines needed and making a production process as efficient as

possible.

The leaf sheath, which is an attachment to the areca palm leaf is needed for production of the

plates. They fall 5 à 6 times a year and need to follow several processing steps, such as

cleaning, drying and preparing before they are pressed into a plate by a heat press and then

finished. This organic and sustainable made tableware can replace plastic ones and

contribute to a sustainable way of life. On the other hand this project will support local

entrepreneurship and create the financial support for the villagers.

The business plan gives insight on what is needed to eventually produce a plate from the

areca palm leaves. The venture is in its beginning stadium, meaning efficient equipment and

business structure needs to be developed. First of all it's important to define the different

customer segments and the value proposition of the dinnerware. The channels and customer

relations are important to know how to approach the customer segments. The resources

needed to perform the key activities have to be researched. Just as all the key resources and

activities that need to be done by the villagers with help from the key partners. The cost and

income structure is important to give insight into the profitability of the business model.

Because of the sustainable aspect in this project it's also important to give you an insight into

the revenues and costs in respect of the planet and people in India. Lastly a feasibility

evaluation will be presented. The businessplan and feasibility evaluation was written after a

questionnaire was conducted of the villagers of Byse. The answers to this questionnaire are

incorporated in both the businessplan and feasibility report.

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1. THE PRODUCT

The product that will be made is a plate, a disposable plate made from the areca palm sheath

that can be used for food. The use of this plate will reduce plastic waste, made by the use of

plastic disposable plates. In the starting phase round plates of a 12 inch will be produced.

When the business develops and grows investments in multiple dies of different sizes and

shapes will be possible. This is important to meet with the costumers wishes.

Figure 1: Example of a Areca Palm plates

Figure 2: Areca sheath, left a good one, right one with

fungus.

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2. THE MARKET

The products will be sold at nearby markets, with the help of an intermediate. This

intermediate will collect the plates from the business and then sell those to the clients. The

help of an intermediate is chosen because the villagers are not willing to take part in

marketing activities; an intermediate can do this for them.

2.2 TARGET MARKET

The cups and plates are in large demand by vendors, fast food restaurant, star-hotels, mass

feeding, for prasadam in religious institutions and local market in the area of Byse. The

villagers do not decide the target market since an intermediate is in between.

Mata Amritanandamayi Math,an international charitable organization located in Kerala, can

also act as a buyer of the plates to use them for their seva (service) activities. However they

will be able to buy them at a price lesser than the market price as no intermediate will be

used in the contact with the villagers.This organization can be a reliant and fixed buyer

ensuring the villagers a solid contract.

In the future the export market might be an option. When the products are of high enough

quality and the capacity is maintainable an intermediate can come and sell them abroad. This

will increase the earnings of the plate.

2.3 MARKET TRENDS

Since sustainability and waste management is becoming a bigger trend, the market for these

sustainable tableware will grow. As the tableware is made from leaves it is a sustainable way

of production. It will also reduce plastic waste, which makes it a social gain for the society,

because it will improve a clean living environment. Unlike plastic the tableware can also be

recycled into fertilizer. This means that this tableware is also a good investment. Lastly It will

increase the status of people, because they will buy a product that is good for the

environment and that will be lifting for poor rural communities.. The product will also look

more elegant and will be more robust than plastic tableware.

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3.PRODUCTION TARGET

The plates will only be made in the spare time of the villagers and this differs with harvesting

season or other activities, because of this it is hard to estimate the production target. The

villagers can now make 4000-7000 plates a month with one machine.

Leaf cups and plates

Quantity 4000-7000

Value (Rs) 8000-14000

4. HUMAN RESOURCES With explaining the utilization of human resources in the village Byse, the different aspects of

employment and personnel organization that needs to be overseen will be assessed and

described.

4.1 SELECTION OF PERSONNEL

The recruitment of personnel will be done in the village of Byse, where there are 208

households. The kind of people that will be working with the business will be men and

women from different households. Their main occupation will be in agriculture. Some of

them will have an areca plate pressing machine and/ or a biogas digester. This meansthat

there are people who have experience in working with the machines.

The villagers, with whom a questionnaire was taken with, mentioned that at least ten other

villagers with experience were interested in working with the business. The questioned

villagers showed positive reactions. There is interest and willingness to expand their current

occupation with other activities that will provide an additional income.

4.2 FUNCTION DESCRIPTION

Manager/bookkeeper

Personnel administration needs to be registrated and keeped-up to date. With this their

different functions and skills can also be stated. This way it’s easier to follow the development

of the personnel.

Then the financial part of the business, such as the profits and costs need to be assessed

continuously during the running of the business. Good bookkeeping is needed and wages

need to be distributed constantly also.

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None of the villagers is interested in managing the business, this is because they want shared

responsibilities and they only want to spend their spare time on the project. Taking all the

responsibility of managing the business is to much for them.

The production process consists of different parts and can be divided into different work

functions.Below the different functions for the production processes are described.

Buying of the areca palm sheaths

The sheaths will be provided by the abundant areca nut farms in the village. These sheaths

are harvested by them and then sold to the business at 1 Rs – 1.5 Rs.

The washing of the sheaths

The sheaths will have dust and dirt on them. This means they have to be washed thoroughly

with a brush. This will take 15 min till 20 min per sheath.

The drying of the sheaths

The sheaths need to be dried for 7 days till 15 days in the sun. For this process supervision is

needed to place the sheaths in the open sun and to check when they are dry enough.

The pressing of the plates

The handling of the machine will be done by one person. Who will put a sheath between the

dies and then turn the lever. The heated dies will then lock together and press the sheath in a

plate shape. The built in cutter will cut the plate. If the sheath is big enough and depending

on the die shape another plate can be pressed from the same sheath.

Drying of the plates

Afterwards the plates need to be dried in the sun for one day, because high moisture content

will lead to the degradation of the plate, making it unfit for use.

Packaging of the plates

The dried plates then need to be packaged in plastic to maintain the quality and that it stays

clean during transportation.

4.3 DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONNEL

The personnel will already have experience in working with the production process of the

areca plate making. The unskilled workers will be taught hands-on, as this is preferred with

them. The different principles of the production are easy to learn, this will make the workers

able to be skilled in every aspect of the production process. Since a few of the people are

already skilled in the process these people can learn it to the other workers. This will be easier

than a training course since these skilled people can also keep a eye on them afterwards.

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Safety on the work floor is an important subject. A chart will be made, which will describe the

safety procedures around the machines. These will also be emphasized as the machines are

open and the use of biogas has to be handled carefully also. This chart will exist of warnings

and graphics. Before placing the machine and introducing the machine it may be helpful to

go on the safety requirements with all the workers

These workers when united in the business will be stronger and be able to produce more and

reduce risks in investment. Working in a group will bring new skills, such as social ability,

communication and more social support. Working in a group venture will also give room to

self-development, as they can learn from each other socially and skill wise.

4.4 LABOR CONDITIONS

The personnel will gain contract, which will ensure fair wages. These contracts will also

describe their rights and conditions for working with the business.

Clear agreements need to be made about the working hours, as the villagers see this venture

as a part-time job. This means that this will be a seasonal venture as harvest time of their

agricultural products will take up all their time and energy. They need to make clear rules

with the group of workers to ensure participation and responsibility of all, to set up those

rules the use of an intermediate may be helpful.

4.5 WAGE SYSTEM

Since the wage is dependent on the amount of plates they sell, the wage will differ with

seasons. When it is harvesting season the workers have less time to make the plates and thus

earn less. When they put extra time into the business they will get more earnings form it.

The profit that is made by selling the plates will be the earnings, this will then be divided by

the people who have worked to create those earnings. As it is an extra income and

dependent on the time put into it, the wages aren’t stable.

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5.QUALITY CONTROL STANDARD

Several tests need to be executed to check the quality of the plates. To ensure the products

are sanitary for immediate use, coliform and yeast/mold testing is done. For checking if the

material is safe for contact with food, phytosanitation will occur (with fumigation). Then the

level of heavy metals will be tested for both human and environmental concern.

The following tests can be done by the importer, intermediate or buyer to ensure that the

products are completely hygienic and safe.

Health and Safety testing;

Anaerobic Plate count - APC35C

Test: Coliform and Yeast/Mold testing

Explanation: The products are sanitary for immediate use out of the package.

PhytoSanitation

Test: Before shipping, the container is fumigated and tested for safety. To be exported the

test must be passed.

Explanation: Plant material is safe for contact with food.

ASTM D-6400

Explanation: Testing for heavy metals is for both human and environmental concern. The

tests will show that it is well below the acceptable level.

Compostability testing

ASTM D-6866

Test: Biological material testing

Explanation: The products are completely natural. There are no additives, plastics, waxes or

glues in the products.

ASTM D-6868 and ASTM D-6400

Test: Speed and ability to be composted

Explanation: The standard for this test is 60% in 90 days. Areca leaf products will be

composted 150% above the standard in 2/3 the time.

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6. MANUFACTURING PROCESS

The pressing machines for the leaves and cups can be operated by hand or foot. In the case

of disabled workers they can use their hands. The machines consist of low-cost and durable

materials, which are locally available. This will make the machine more easily to maintain and

to be built locally. The energy source for the machine will be LPG or biogas. The materials

that will be pressed by the machines are areca leaves sheaths. These are washed, dried and

then stored. Then they are placed on the lower die, as the pedal is pressed down for a few

seconds, the upper and lower die will be pushed together. The heat and pressure from the

plate or cup shaped dies will give the leaf form and make it robust. The sharp edges attached

to the die will cut the remainders from the leaf. After pressing the plates and cups will be

dried as they will contain high moisture content.

Figure 3: The machine they use now. The wheel behind is put on top to press

the dies together.

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7. COST STRUCTURE The different costs that need to be considered are stated here for all the different aspects of

the business venture. The assessment of the costs and investments that are needed are

important, as to see what is needed to start the business and to keep it running continuously.

7.1 LAND AND BUILDING

Description Amount (m2) Cost (Rs)

1. Covered area

?

2. Uncovered area

?

3. Total area

Rented?

4. Storage facility

Rented?

Total

7.2 MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT

Description Quantity Value (Rs)

1. Pressing machine 1 20000

2. Dies for cups and plates 111 40 - 250

3. Handtools 1 30-40

4. Biogas digester 1 120 000

5. Sales Tax, Freight & Insurance etc. ... ?

Total

7.3 RAW MATERIALS

Description

Value (Rs)

1. Areca palm sheaths 1 sheath 1-1.5

2. Packaging material .... ?

Total

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7.4 STAFF AND LABOUR

Description Quantity Rate (per day) Value(Rs) Monthly

A Administration and supervision

(i) Manager/bookkeeper

?

(ii) Peon/ Chowkidar

?

B Technical (Skilled/Unskilled)

(i) Skilled worker 2 200/350

Men 1 300/350

Women 1 200/250

(ii) Unskilled worker? 10 150-200

Sub-Total

Plus perquisites @ 30% of salaries

Total

7.5 OTHER EXPENSES

Description Value (Rs)

1. Electricity costs N.N.A

2. Fuel expense ?

3. Advertisement and Travelling N.A.

4. Transport N.A.

5. Market stand N.A.

6. Food expenses/ Telephones 50 / N.A.

7. Stationary ?

8. Repairs and Maintenance ?

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9. Rented area ?

Total

7.6 WORKING CAPITAL

Description Amount (Rs)

1. Raw material 2000-5250

2. Salaries and Wages

3. Other expenses

Total

7.7 TOTAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT

Building and land

Machinery and equipment

Working capital for one month

Total

7.8 COST OF PRODUCTION (PER ANNUM)

Total recurring cost per year

Depreciation on Machinery and equipment

Interest on total investment @ 10%

Total

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7.9 SALES PROCEEDS (PER ANNUM)

Product Amount Value (Rs)

Leaf cups and plates 1 2-2.5

...... ?

Total

7.10 PROFITABILITY (BEFORE INCOME TAX)

Description Value Unit

1. Annual Gross profit

Rs.

2. % of profit on sales

%

3. Break Even Analysis

3.1 Annual Fixed Cost

Rs.

3.2 Annual Sales

Rs.

3.3 Annual Variable Cost

Rs.

3.4 Break Even Point

%

Break-Even Analysis

(% of Total Production envisaged )

𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝐹𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑑 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 100 𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 − 𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 = %

7.11 MANUFACTURES / SUPPLIERS OF MACHINE

1.

2.

3.

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7.12 SUPPLIERS OF RAW MATERIALS

1.

2.

3.

7.13 IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD

Assumption for generating project profitability.

1. Number of Working Days in a year 365

2. Number of shifts in a day

3. Hours in a shift

4. Plant capacity

5. Raw material Estimates

6. Raw material Availability Abundant

7. Depreciation

8. Manpower 10

9. Rent estimate

10. Potential Area of marketing N.A.

11. If project is funded, term loan would be. 1 lakh p.p.

12. Moratorium Period

13. Repayment Period Weekly 600 Rs

14. Project may be established under

Sidenote: An estimation for the cost structure is made based on certain views and beliefs. As

the villagers could not recite the solid numbers and we are not able to get these numbers

from elsewhere is hard to complete the cost structure.

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8. SOCIAL ECONOMIC ASPECTS

Byse is a small rural village in Hosanagara Tehsil of the Shimoga district of Karnataka, which

lay approximately 342 kilometers from Bangalore. The village has an area of 1266.61 hectares

were approximately 961 people live, which make 208 households. The villagers speak

Kannada, the language of Karnataka.

The villagers of Byse are fully dependent on agriculture. So, most of the villagers have

involved themselves in agriculture and related industries. The land of Byse was majorly

covered by forest but parts are converted into revenue land. The major crops cultivated are

paddy and the arecanut. However the process is not yet efficient and the fields are not used

for 3-6 months.

A few government provided schools are found in Byse, these schools provide the students

with a midday meal. The students found in Byse are curious and bright and are talented in

different sectors as science and creative arts. The literacy rate in Byse lies higher than the

average of 75,36% in Karnataka, with 79,42%.

Electricity is widely used in the village. About 90% of the houses of Byse have access to

electricity, but only for 4 to 5 hours a day. Furthermore nearly 50% of the people have their

own transportation facilities.

To stimulate and increase the livelihood of the people in Byse, the village needs support from

organizations. Now they have practiced agriculture successfully for years and want to pursue

other opportunities. Some households have already purchased an Areca plate pressing

machine in the past, with the use of loans. This enables them to get an additional income.

The villagers, who will make plates next to their agricultural work seemed pleased and willing

to invest further in this business opportunity. However the purchased machines are outdated

and the production process used now, can be improved in efficiency.

Most of the people in the village have the skills and training to do more, but they lack the

resources. When giving the right training or financial support they will be able to open up to

a new source from which they can earn money.

8.1 CHALLENGES

The villagers of Byse have as main income, work in agriculture. This has always been a reliable

form of income to them. This means that they are willing and motivated in getting additional

income on part-time bases as their main time investment and energy will stay with

agriculture.

Multiple projects and surveys have been done in this village, but physical results were lacking.

This created skepticism amongst the villagers. This didn’t demotivate the villagers in

expressing their job wishes and to talk about their current work environment. They expressed

their motivations and intentions to expand their incomes and to increase the working

efficiency with the production of the areca plates.

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The villagers made clear that they wanted the areca business to be a group venture. No

individual is willing to take the responsibility and the risks in terms of investments of energy

and money. Just like the loans that need to be taken for the purchase of raw materials and

equipment have to be done for the business.

The part of the business venture that the villagers are willing to participate with is the

production part. They only want to produce plates and get a fixed price for it, independent of

market fluctuations. Currently a few are working this way, by selling the plates to a buyer for

a certain price. The villagers are unaware of what happens with the product after it has been

handed to the buyer. This means that they are also not interested in the other parts, such as

logistics, market, distribution and etc.

8.2 PARTNERSHIPS

The different existing partnerships are to ensure a proper business venture. First a start

capital needs to be ensured. This is done in the form of a group loan for the business. The

villagers now have individual loans to sustain them in different aspects. They are accustomed

to this system and have faith in this. This made them willing to get a group loan and make

investments in the future.

When looking at the equipment and machines, they need to be made and receive

maintenance over time. The first machines will be made as a prototype for the village by

Amrita University. With this also the knowledge will be shared of production and usage. The

goal is that the villagers will be able to make and maintain the machines by themselves.

To meet the wishes of the villagers of a fixed plate price when selling to the intermediate

buyer, contracts and reliable buyers need to be sustained.

8.3 DEVELOPMENT AND BENEFICIARIES

There are a few households, who are currently producing areca plates. The development will

be in improving the machines, production process and create additional income for more

villagers. More villagers will gain in income by participating in this business venture. Indirectly

the whole village will benefit as the business will grow.

This village is one of the 101 villages that Amrita University adopted for creating chances and

opportunities. Improvements have been in infrastructure, electricity availability, hygiene and

more. To make this village more self-reliant and successful will benefit Amrita University in

different ways, such as charity, status and as a learning process for application in other

villages.

Another University supporting this project is the Technical University of Delft. This kind of

program, where technical, design and business aspects are included, are a great learning

experience for all involved. There is an exchange of knowledge between all parties, such as

the villagers, students, supervisors and etc.

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8.4 IMPACTS: ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND POLICY

According to Porter (2011) Businesses can reduce the infliction of social, economic and

environmental problems by adapting the principle of shared value. This means creating value

for society and economically. This is the essence of the project, because the project will help

the villagers socially and economically. There is creation of employment and

entrepreneurship. This means there will be an increase of knowledge and income for the

villagers and at the same time a business is set-up.

The environmental impact of this business venture depends on the energy sources used and

the products produced. The energy source used will be initially LPG and later on it will be

replaced by biogas. Electricity is not possible as it’s not possible to ensure a continuous

production. The option for the usage of biogas has been inquired during interviews taken

from the villagers. The reactions received were positive as many were already familiar with

the use of it and had a biogas digester on their property. The biogas will be sustainable and a

green way of fuel production as agricultural waste and cattle manure will be its raw material.

The set-up of a new biogas digester will take two till three months, this is why LPG will be

used initially.

The product itself is made of the areca palm leaves sheath. These sheaths fall from the trees

naturally and are then to picked up for usage. These sheaths have to be picked up as they are

prone to mold and fungus, which will affect the areca palm tree. This means that the harvest

of these sheaths won’t harm the environment in any way. The sheath waste can be used as

food stock for cattle or for the biogas installation. After production the eco-friendly plates

can be easily recycled with other organic materials into fertilizer.

The economic impact will be evident over the course of time. As this business venture is now

practiced on a small scale as a free time activity for the villagers. However when proper

machines and improved production process will be implemented more villagers can join and

upscale this business. The impact economically will grow making investment and more sales

possible. This will lead to more areca plate production jobs and of course jobs indirectly

related to it.

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9. FEASABILITY OF THE PROJECT

A questionnaire was proposed amongst the villagers of Byse. The answers came from; the

areca nut farmers, the coordinator of Amrita SeRVe and one household that was already

producing the areca palm plates. These answers will be used to look at the feasibility of the

project.

9.1 TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY

A pressing machine is designed and built by mechanical engineering students from Amrita

University. The first machine will be delivered to the village and the following machines can

be built by the villagers themselves with help from Amrita University. The machine will be

kept simple and made from locally available material so that maintenance can be done by the

villagers themselves. Only the dies in the machine can’t be reproduced locally.

The current machines used by the villager’s uses a manual cutting device. This takes more

time and is less efficient. The new machines will have a built in cutting edge, which will cut

the plates in the right shape automatically. Afterwards only small cuts need to made to get

the design perfect.

LPG is currently used as fuel for the pressing machine. The use of LPG as fuel is easy and

available, as the villagers are able to get subsidy on the fuel costs, because of a government

scheme. However a more preferable option for fuel is biogas. A disadvantage to biogas is

that the installation will take time to set-up, as a biogas installation cost investment and two

to three months before it will start generating gas. Some of the households already

possessed a biogas digester from years back and they were very positive of its use. Currently

they harvest the biogas as energy source for doing household chores. They are not using the

biogas for the pressing machine, because the use of biogas for the areca press now was not

efficient as the current areca press machines uses very high temperatures and therefore a lot

of biogas. However the new machines proposed by Amrita University will be able to work

better with biogas, because they are more efficient in the use of energy as they will heat up

to lower temperature and achieve the same results.

The goal is to use biogas eventually as the main source of energy as it is lasting, free (after

initial investment) and environmentally friendly. The raw material needed for the biogas

installation is abundant available in the villages as almost every household have cattle and

work in agriculture. Therefore setting up a biogas plant in the village will have positive

advantages for the villagers.

The option to use solar energy was also looked into, but after an inquiry with the villagers it

seemed not preferable for them. First of all it was unknown to them in the sense of never

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have they experienced working with it. Other concerns are with the high initial costs and the

weather. Byse experiences a monsoon time and has about four till six months of rain. During

the rain the radiation of the sun and the humidity detain the solar dryer from working. As the

solar dryer can only be used in the dry months when it is not needed as much the solar dryer

is not profitable.

9.2 FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY

The complete financial structure can be seen in the chapter costs structure. The group can

take a group loan, for four persons at Karnataka State. This provides about 1 lakh per person,

which is enough to get the business of the ground. The villagers have used this system

before, so they trust it and know the requirements and risks. They are willing to take a loan,

but only as a group. This loan will be enough to provide the villagers with the initial capital

needed to start the business.

9.3 IMPLEMENTATION

For the implementation of the project certain things are required and since the villagers are

skeptical about the implementation of the project this needs to be done right. After physical

confirmation in the sense of machinery and equipment, the villagers will be more convinced

of the succession of this project. The villagers are willing and agitated to start on the project

but from previous projects by Amrita they became quite skeptical with the implementation of

the project. The villagers were promised something which did not get delivered. So extra

notice needs to be done while implementing the project, this can be done by giving the

villagers updates on how far the project is. .

9.4 MOTIVATION AND WILLINGNESS The motivation and willingness is the main thing needed to get the project off the ground.

The villagers are willing to earn some extra money next to their main source of income,

agriculture. None of them is willing to completely rely themselves on the areca palm plate

business. They do not want to do marketing, branding or distribution and logistics for the

business. But they were all enthusiastic about the business and they all saw potential in the

project. The money they earn from the business will be invested in searching for new crops

that can grow in the rain.

9.5 NEEDS To get the project started a few things are of importance;

Willingness of the villagers - The villagers need to be willing to do the project since its

dependent on them and for them.

Skills - The villagers needs skills to be able to make the products, these skills will be

provided to them by means of a training course provided by the project team of

Amrita University.

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Machine - The machine for making the products will be provided by the project team

of Amrita University, although the villagers need to pay for the machine with help of a

loan.

Loan - To get started and be able to pay for the machine, workspace and a certain

amount of sheaths and gas a loan will be required. This loan will help the villagers get

started, whereas later on they can start making profits by selling the product.

Workspace - Since no one in the group want to have all the responsibility they also do

not want the workspace on their property. So there needs to be looked a communal

space where they can work.

Areca sheaths - Areca palms grow abundant in Byse, these sheath need to be bought

or acquired.

9.6 REQUIREMENTS Since the villagers do not want any participation in the marketing and sales aspects and

nobody wants to take individual responsibility for the business, clear rules should be set in

the group so they know what is expected from them. The villagers learn the best when they

are thought in a way of seeing, for instance by example and then trying. A manual with

pictures and explanation will not work for them. Since the process is not that hard to learn.

Villagers already skilled in the production of the plates have also learned it hands-on

successfully.

9.7 RISK MANAGEMENT

The machinery will consist of dies that won’t be able to be reproduced by the villagers. The

framework of the machine they will be able to reproduce. However due to the close

relationship with Amrita University agreements can be made about the maintenance and

replacements of broken or depleted dies. Furthermore as this machine will have a built in

cutter, which will make the production process quicker and be more efficient in fuel use, the

villagers will happily use those machines and learn how to work with them.

By supplying the villagers with efficient machinery, they will be able to produce more and

make more profits. This enables them to pay of their loans and invest back into the business.

Therefore this will attract more villagers in participating and develop the business.

This is a part-time activity for the villagers; this shouldn’t be a problem as the amount of

plates from one household can reach 4000 till 7000 plates in a month resulting in a proper

additional income.

The motivations and intentions of the villagers are positive, this means that when given the

right instruments and materials the villagers will take it with both hands. The villagers only

agree with developing this business venture if it will be a group effort. They don’t want to

take individual responsibility and risks, which is reasonable as machines and equipment will

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need substantial investments. Also by taking a group loans start capital will be high and risks

will be smaller.

There are several risks that a common workplace will bring, such as using flammable and

toxic gas (when inhaled) and open pressing machine which needs to be handled with caution

for the hands. As the villagers have years of experience with the use of a biogas digester and

how to harvest it risks are low. One safety precaution which will be built in the machine is that

the dies will lock first, before pressing.

Also concerns were given about children at the work place, but the villagers ensured that no

children were never around those machines during working hours. They regard the children

as a distraction and are well aware of the dangers of the machines for children. Of course a

refreshing course can be given about the handling procedures and dangers. Despite of their

solid experience in working with a pressing machine and biogas installation it is still

recommendable to make sheets with the safety requirements.