The purpose of this project is to develop a profitable, repeatable, and sustainable business model for a solar-powered drip irrigation garden. We will be depending upon grant money and/or crowdsourcing to raise the necessary capital for the project implementation in Agbokpa, Ghana. However, we want to show (using Agbokpa as a pilot) that solar powered irrigation gardens is a profitable business venture so that other investors may be interested in expanding the use of this technology. Therefore it is our group’s intention to devise a business plan that would give investors 100% return on investment after 3 years.
Cost of Materials:
The Land:
The land that will be used for the garden in Agbokpa is approximately one acre (4047 sq. meters). We plan to divide this land into 8 1/8 acre land plots. Though this size of farming is much smaller than the typical 1-2 acres of farm land that the farmers of Agbokpa are used to maintaining, we see the added value of year-round irrigation and ability to grow more intensive crops as a good justification for the smaller land size. According to this AgriLife Today article, a study supports our idea and shows that there may be a lot of profit to be made from smaller specialty crop-bearing farm plots.
The Rental Cost Calculation:
Total cost of Solar Garden / Number of farm plots / 60 (number of months within 5 year ROI timeframe) = Cost per month for farmers
16065 / 8 / 60 = $33/ month / per plot of land
Fundraising for capital costs:
- Grant opportunities
- First Solar Corporate Charitable Fund (deadline February 1st)
- Solar Electric Light Fund (no deadline)
- Crowdsourcing/ Investors
- Kickstarter
I think salary is about $10 per day for an educated Ghanaian. You will need to support David. However, he is already supported to do what he does now. Additionally, he’ll have other projects. Again, I encourage you (get Nathan’s permission) to engage more collaboratively with David – how much salary would he require in order to maintain this? My guess is that installation would largely be done by people without an education and so they would earn less. Do your best to fill in these costs.