LOMBRIBONO looks to provide quality organic fertilizer recycling food wastes from households and in turn providing food as form of payment to the households for their contribution.
4.1.1. Social Value Proposition
LOMBRIBONO looks to promote the recycling of food waste as well as bridging the hunger and malnutrition gap that exists in the country. We also look to produce organic fertilizer, which is better for the soil and the crops, increasing the overall health of the population.
4.1.2. Impact Measures
Amount of food waste recycled per month.
Number of households participating in the recycling and receiving food.
Amount of food handed out monthly by our program.
4.1.3. Customer Value Proposition
LOMBRIABONO will provide the best organic fertilizer in Nicaragua thanks to the help of the added value that worm processing on food wastes has. In turn, using our products the farmer or gardener will be improving the quality of his soil and crops by using fertilizers that are not harmful to them. As well as the quality of the product, the customers will rest assure knowing that their purchase will help feed thousands of households in the nation as well as promote the recycling of food waste.
4.2. Customer Segments
4.2.1. Customers Small farms: In many states you can find small farms commonly known as “quintas.”
These “quintas” range from an acre up to a couple dozens of acres and they specialize in fruits and vegetables or raising small animals such as goats, chickens and pigs.
Recreational gardeners: The adult that wishes to keep his or her garden tidy with
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farms that use fertilizer. Some examples are cattle farms in the south and central regions, coffee farms in the north, sugar cane and rice farms in the west region, etc. Large corporations in the agriculture sector: Corporations like AGRICORP and Compañia Licorera de Nicaragua, SA sow, reap, process, package and sell rice and rum, which uses fertilizer to optimize their crops.
Fishermen: These will be our main clients for the excess red worms from reproduction.
Owners of pet stores and bird farms: They will be our secondary purchasers of the excess red worms.
4.2.2. Beneficiaries
Underprivileged households: Underprivileged households will be able to exchange their food waste for food.
Restaurants and supermarkets: Restaurants and supermarkets will also have the option to deposit their excess food waste in one of recollection centers. Waste management is an issue in Nicaragua.
4.3. Channels
Supermarket chains: Various supermarket chains all across the country. These include La Union, La Colonia, Pali, and Pricemart.
Small agriculture shops: Various hardware and agriculture shops across the country.
Large agriculture shops: This will be another access point for large agriculturist who wish to buy our product in larger quantities. An example would be DISAGRO.
Vermicomposting centers: Customers can purchase directly are at our centers for larger quantities.
Pet shops and bait shops: the red worms will be purchasable at these locations.
4.4. Revenue Streams
Our three sources of revenue will be from the LOMBRIABONO fertilizer, the vermicomposting tea, and from the excess red worms that are reproduced in the vermicomposting centers.
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The first partner in the social enterprise is CAÑ AS BLANCAS, a 10 acre fruit farm located 5 km from Jinotepe, the capital of Carazo. The owner Maria Lydia Medina has agreed to start the first vermicomposting center here.
We will also require assistance from the markets near cities as they will be responsible for recollecting the food waste as well as distributing food to those participating households who provide their food waste. We will also need to create a partnership with underprivileged households who desire to receive food in exchange for their food waste. They are the most essential partner of ours.
Another one of our important partners will be the supermarkets, restaurants and malls that have excess food and wish to donate it to our enterprise.
4.6. Key Activities
Personnel training: Training will be implemented in the vermicomposting farms in order to ensure the best quality product and optimization of resources.
Inventory management: It is important to have proper control of the vermicomposting that is being produced at the vermicomposting centers as well as control on the food waste that is being received from each household at the recollection centers (markets).
Distribution: Manage the best and most effective way to get the food waste to the vermicomposting centers as well as getting the final product out to our different points of sale.
Quality control: Ensure that the vermicomposting is of greatest quality, controlling the PH and moisture levels as well as testing samples to determine the amount of nutrients in the batch.
4.7. Key Resources
Physical resources: The physical resources will be all the equipment and infrastructure we will need at our food waste recollection centers and our vermicomposting farms. These include: roofed stalls where the vermicomposting will take place, the red worms, tools to
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Intellectual resources: The know-how on the process of vermicomposting that has been obtained via research for my Hult Prize project as well as consultations with Mr. Huang, an owner of a vermicomposting farm in Tainan, Taiwan. Will also work with experts in the field of fertilizer and farming in Nicaragua.
Human resources: This is the most important asset of the company and includes the underprivileged homes that will provide their food waste, the market owners that will participate in the collection of food waste and distribution of food, and the farmers that will provide their land for vermicomposting as well as the employees that will manage the vermicomposting stalls and packaging.
4.8. Cost Structure
The cost structure is a mix between value-driven and cost-driven. The idea is not to sacrifice quality of the final product, vermicomposting, while still finding the best and most cost-efficient ways to operate the company. The cost structure can be divided into variable and fixed costs, with costs being incurred in both the recollection centers and the vermicomposting farms.
Variable costs: Includes feed (food waste), bedding, labor to feed, harvest labor, packaging, advertising, cost to operate the system (electricity and water), others.
Fixed costs: Includes the food waste collection bins in the markets, the materials to build the stalls at the farms and the initial investment of red worms.
4.9. Surplus
The surplus that remains after all costs are accounted for will be reinvested to ensure growth in the enterprise. This translates to starting new operations in different markets and different farms with hopes of reaching more underprivileged households with our program. This will also be reinvested in the form of marketing expenditures and contacting big corporations who will want to join the LOMBRIABONO movement.
4.10. Type of Intervention
LOMBRIABONO intervenes in two ways: the first by transforming food waste into vermicomposting, an organic fertilizer with high concentration of valuable nutrients, the
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second by providing food vouchers as payment to the households that deposit their food waste in our collection bins in their local markets.
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when applied to soil or land it provides plants with the vital nutrients that they need to grow (acodeco, 2015). With this definition, we look at the agriculture sector as our main market for our product.Despite the rise in other sectors such as tourism, agriculture is still accountable for 31% of the labor force in Nicaragua, with coffee, beef, banana, tobacco and sugar being the strongest industries in the agriculture sector (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015). Agriculture represents an estimate of 19% of the country’s GDP (acodeco, 2015). Nicaragua as well has shown great potential in the crop index, where the current production is compared with the 2004-2006 period. For the year 2013 the crop index in comparison to 2004-2006 was at 140% (El banco mundial, 2015). The index of animal production as well shows increases in regards to the same period. In 2013 it was 130% in comparison to 2004-2006 (El banco mundial, 2015). The index of food production shows promising numbers as well with a position of 141.2% in comparison to the 2004-2006 period (El banco mundial, 2015).
Despite the importance that agriculture has in the national gross product, it is only until recently that the Nicaraguan farmers have realized the importance of fertilizers. Nicaragua has shown a growth towards the usage of fertilizer to better crop production. Information from the World Bank, shows that in 2010, 34.7 kg were used on average per acre of cultivatable land.
That number has risen to 53.7 kg in 2012 (El banco mundial, 2015). This response comes at the hands of competition from imported goods which are cultivated with higher technology, which helps improve their costs. At times, the national product cannot compete with imported goods (acodeco, 2015). From the period of 2003-2008, on a yearly average, the chemical fertilizer market in Nicaragua alone was estimated at US$58,563,780 with a consumption of 61,482 tons of it (acodeco, 2015).