3.2. Market Values of Products Produced from the Site

Tue, 09/18/2012 - 12:13 -- klm-admin

Basis of calculations - Silva Jardim, Brazil is the example below, operating for five seasons. It is a mature site. It has a strong statistical base for fertilizer/sludge values based on five years of analysis.

Below calculations show the total retail value of products to the local community. Here are examples of values which accrue to the community, but which do not show up in actual cash revenues: Sometimes communities use products internally, without sending them to market. This is more efficient than transporting them to market, selling them, then using the cash to buy food at the supermarket.

Site revenues vary depending on:

  • level of operator training
  • types of crops grown.
  • variations in operator statistics-gathering
  • losses from theft
  • uses of products by the operators and in the community directly without retail sales.

At Silva Jardim the operator divided uses between his own consumption, feed for animals and local sales His personal consumption plus feed for animals only show up as reduced costs. They do not show as cash revenues. Significant losses occur from theft, but this ultimately accrues to the local community. Operators tend to understate their incomes when providing statistics, as this is a normal procedure in Brazil.

Attached revenue calculations are low as they exclude:

  • The possibility to produce commercial volumes of fish from the fish ponds.
  • Higher net revenues possible from an integrated production site over conventional monoculture sites. This is due to production coming available in the off-season, when it is possible to get higher unit prices for some products. For example, bananas, manioc and yams have increased value when they are brought to the market in the off-season.

Given those variants, below statistics are only a rough example, accepting a variance of up to 30 percent either way.

 Silva Jardim: Annual crops planted and harvested in 97/98 season:

ADD: Perennial trees & vines planted in 1996 and projected to produce annually for next ten years, beginning 1997

*Note: This figure understates optimum yields. It is based on actual fertilizer collection in an unoptimized facility. The actual figure is very low compared to calculations from a 1995 'Report to the European Commission showing possible maximum yields with equivalent values of $6,600-7,600 for NPK fertilizer. The figures also exclude fertilizer from crop waste, which is significant.

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