A Project proposal
Prepared by:
DON ENRICO G. CONCEPCION
Introduction
Rice has been a staple here in Asia and in this country. Wheat has always been used in baking and other baked goods basically bread. Wheat as we all know is not indigenous and is imported. Wheat thrives in the temperate climates and cannot grow here. As technology progresses, and the introduction of Genetically Modified crops, our native crops have not been given attention and the widespread proliferation of GMO's may harm us. We should stick to what nature has given us and take care of our indigenous species. Technology should instead develop our staple for use in bakery needs, instead of importing cheap probably GMO laden wheat to make our bread.
Rice is expensive to produce in our country and thus we most of the time we import rice from Vietnam, which sucks! Since it's too expensive to produce rice, we should do something to improve its production and cut down on costs of inputs.
Since it's cheaper to import wheat and wheat is almost always used in our baking needs, it has been the norm to use wheat and import it. But our thrust is to use our staple and prevent GMO laden wheat in coming to the country, we should develop technology to use rice flour instead.
The objective of this project is to be able to produce an alternative locally made flour to substitute for wheat flour. Since the technology in making wheat flour would be similar or appropriate enough in making rice flour, this project wants to determine if making rice flour would be economical to do and acceptable to making bread.
Establishing the Business
In establishing the business, we have to take into consideration the production phase. In the production phase we should select the right variety that would suit our needs. The variety must be hardy and can tolerate drought and doesn't need much management and production inputs such as fertilizer and must not be susceptible to pests. We must also take into consideration the nutritive content of the variety; some flours need a certain amount of amylose content for certain baking needs.
If we can find a variety that's suitable and can be available and produced by our farmers, we can contract them to plant this variety and buy it from them. If the variety is locally available, the next phase would be procurement. We should procure the rice either as palay or milled rice or maybe more practical as palay at a low price. The variety should not be expensive and have the production characteristics we mentioned earlier.
The next phase would be the processing of the rice grain to rice flour. In this phase, we would need a milling machine that will ground the grains into a powdery texture. The design of the machine would still have to be conceptualized. Using granite stones to grind the grain was used and is still being used in the countryside to make rice flour as an ingredient to bibingka, puto and other locally made rice cakes.
Packaging is the next phase after processing the rice grain into flour. The usual cheesecloth would be used in packing the flour. We need to have a huge land area for a warehouse or storage of the flour stacked up inside on pallets.
In the distribution and marketing phase, some important information must be researched, such as the amount of flour used in a certain bakery for a period of time to calculate the average consumption needs, and also the price of the regular wheat flour they use. This information is important in marketing our rice flour.
We must have a holding area near the processing plant and the processing plant must be nears the production area. Storage facilities are also needed near communities for easier distribution.
The Location
The possible location for our prototype can be in the Zambales area, where
rice is abundant and is the major cash crop.
The Materials
and Equipment Needed
We need to design a rice milling machine similar that to wheat milling. Probably
huge machines that can handle tons of milled rice grain. It should also be easily
transportable or built on site.
Financing
Income Potential
The income potential can be good if and when the bakeries that will be our steady clients will accept the quality of the flour and are amenable to our pricing schemes. Convincing our clients that our flour is as good as a substitute to the usual wheat flour and is much cheaper, they will switch and prefer our product. Having a loyal client base would make our income steady and by word of mouth hopefully, income would grow and eventually gain a monopoly in the flour business when there will be a plight of banning imported wheat as long as we can meet the demand and stabilize supply.
Cost and Operating Expenses
Feasibility
Computation
Possible Problems and Recommendations
The main possible problem that may arise is the cost of producing rice suitable for flour. If we can find a way to cut cost in producing rice and or find or breed suitable varieties that have minimal production and management inputs and still give high yields, we would not rely on wheat anymore otherwise, we will end up with the most practical thing of depending on the cheap imported wheat.
Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy appropriate here is to let certain bakeries try our
product, then when its acceptable, we can price it competitively. As a valued
client we can offer to deliver the flour. Since we will price our product cheaper
than the regular wheat flour, we can establish a customer base and probably
make a brand out of it and make our own rice logo and have bakeries carrying
our logo.
The Future
The future would be a monopoly of the flour business. We will control the baking needs of the whole country. Wheat will no longer be imported and used in our foodstuffs. The rice farmer will be powerful and control the needs of the people and be the heroes of us all. Rice will be the staple either be it eating rice or bread. All flour will come from rice, no more genetically modified wheat and other foodstuffs from abroad.
Let us be thankful for the staple God has given us and be proud that we are rice eaters.
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