Rice Mills
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For hill tribes in Northern Thailand, rice has always been consumed by the family and never sold for profit. The isolation of the villages prevents them from using cash transactions or trade. Since rice continues to be the staple food for people in Thailand, agriculture will continue to be an important aspect of their lifestyle and economy.
In November of 2008 our first rice mill was built in a Karen village in the mountains south of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Thanks to a generous investor we had enough money to build and begin running the mill. We hired a local father and son who had built 60 similar milling machines that year. The mill is running strong and people in and near the village use it every day. It is a productive and beneficial service for the underprivileged farming community. Click here to view more about our current rice mill. Our you can view our video by playing the file below.
Our Goal
Our goal is to build rice mills in the poorer farming communities. We want to give them the opportunity of not having to pound rice by hand or travel long distances to mill rice. The rice mills will be small in size using smaller, local made machines. The mills will not be intended for mass production but for family consumption. We not only except donations but have also set up a system where investors can give to start a mill and in time receive their initial payment back in full. This is how our first mill was funded. Our first few mills will need to be funded either by donors or investors. Over time we expect to earn enough money to open more by ourselves.
Below shows how much it costs to build a rice mill. We built our first rice mill with 3,000 USD.
|
Rice Mill Initial set up cost |
|
|
|
Thai Baht ฿ |
|
Rice Huller |
70 - 90,000 |
|
Building |
26,000 |
|
Electrical Install |
10,000 |
|
Permit |
6,000 |
|
|
|
|
Total |
112 - 142,000 ฿ |
142,000฿ currently Equals just under 4,000 USD