Is He Worth It?

My work with the lowland rice cooperative (NILRIFACU) continues. The cooperative’s executive is made up of roughly ten members, three of which are women processors. Each member of the executive also belongs to their own local farmer or processor group (usually as an executive) and NILRIFACU represents two or three thousand people.

Earlier this week I went to Tamale to accompany some of the executives as they registered for classes at a local computer centre (apparently run and funded by the Dutch). I ended up taking a bit of a tour to where one of the women’s groups processes their rice and the mill where they pay to have it de-husked.


The women showing me some of their milled rice. Can you spot the stones?

They also took me to the site of an abandoned rice mill and shea butter processing centre which was donated by the former government but which has since fallen into disrepair. Two of the NILRIFACU executives used to be part of the group running the mill, but described how the group was largely dysfunctional and blamed the male members. They said that they are much better off now that they are not working with men, at which point I joked that perhaps I shouldn’t be getting involved.


The abandoned processing centre.

Ayesha, the group’s treasurer, is pretty impressive. She’s a rice processor, a single mother and a market enumerator (records market prices for the government). In addition, she’s signed up for computer classes and still manages to attend almost all the NILRIFACU meetings as well as her own processing group’s meetings. She told me her group’s dream is to get a mill and use the abandoned centre to process their own rice. Ideally this mill would feature a de-stoner and colour sorter which would allow the women to process high quality rice. Stone-free, quality rice can sell for as much as twice what regular local rice sells for. An American NGO called TechnoServe is offering grants for rice mills ($2500), but will not cover the extra expense of a three-in-one rice mill, de-stoner and colour sorter ($6000). As there are already basic mills in the area, it is unlikely this particular group will receive the grant, although it may be useful for some of the more rural groups.


Areysha (left) and another of the female NILRIFACU executives.

I have mixed feelings about the processing equipment. On the one hand, I feel like the cooperatives need to start thinking more like a business and focusing on how they can improve their own operations without external support. At the same time, the benefits of equipment such as a de-stoner are clear and the financial capital required is clearly out of their immediate reach. In the right hands, a grant or low interest loan could have the potential to dramatically increase the group’s income.

At the last NILRIFACU meeting Ayesha asked me what I was going to do for her group. I responded by trying to tell her I could help them do some kind of profitability study that might help them when applying for grants in the future. Her reaction was basically, “that’s it?” I’ve continued to reiterate the fact that EWB does not provide funding for projects, but this doesn’t seem to satisfy her. She thinks that because I’m from such a wealthy country that I can simply ask “my people” to support her group.

While I was slightly frustrated by her comment, it got me thinking. I couldn’t help but feel a pretty heavy touch of guilt considering the cost of my placement is just about the same as that of the three-in-one processing equipment. I’m pretty sure if you asked the group which one they’d prefer, it wouldn’t be a difficult decision. Now I don’t think that means my being here is a mistake, I expect much of the positive impact I have to be indirect and not as quantifiable as the value of a machine. I also don’t feel like it would be a good idea for EWB to start handing out grants or loans, as we don’t have the financial resources and this certainly is not our area of expertise.

That being said, perhaps I can help the group seek out financial support from other areas. Even just my access to the internet is a huge advantage. With all the buzz about micro credit recently, there has to be options out there for a group who’s well organized and can demonstrate a strong financial plan. Hopefully I can help the group find potential funding sources and develop a stronger proposal for securing those funding sources. It won’t be an easy task, but somehow I have to prove, if only to myself, that I’m worth a three-in-one rice mill, de-stoner and colour sorter.