Social Enterprise 2

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I have a friend who is starting a cattle farm in Asia. He is going to rear the cows till they are mature and sell them at a low price to the villagers, who will keep them. These cows are bigger and fed with specially planned diet, a departure from local traditional methods that results in skinny and small cows. He will also dispense medical log books to them such that his vets will be able to monitor the health of the cows regularly. With one or two healthy cows in each family, they will breed future calves, giving a good income to these otherwise improverished rural folks.

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I am impressed because this will be done without government or any NGO funding, and yet it will be profitable. Also fascinating is that my friend thought of the welfare of his people first. Clearly, it will be more efficient to acquire the villagers' land and centralise them for industrialised cattle farming and he can do this forcefully in his country, as it is not a democracy. Yet he didn't even think of such efficiency gains. To him, the people come first.

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Further, he has plans to use the profits of his farm to build schools, hospitals, low-cost housing, roads and bridges to bring up the quality of life of his people.

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This is a leapfrog from a third world developing society to a futuristic social enterprise rural society. The irony is that he is doing it within a framework of a dictatorship. His country is not a democracy. In fact, that is also why he could implement his plan quickly.

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Normally, cattle farming wouldn't be seen as a business that is socially responsible. Yet, my friend has turned such critics on their head. While environmentalists scorned at the damages to the environment, he has all the dung manually scooped up and all the waste water treated before discharge. He will soon build a power station that uses the dung as fuel and supply the electricity to those outer reaches of the hills - and this is good for the environment, as there will be no burning of fossil fuel and CO2 discharge.

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Some of my vegetarian friends would scream at me if they know that I am supporting a cattle farm. Yes, they would. I have some very staunch ones! :) Being a former vegetarian myself, I must admit I am also a little uncomfortable with the slaughtering of animals. But this is what brings employment, income and basic necessities to the rural folks. Given the present prices of agriculture, growing vegetables will not derive the same social and economic results. In cattle farming, no part of a cow is wasted, not even its bones, hide or dung!

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The success of such projects will keep the rural folks in the countryside and reduce the exodus of people into city. Transmigration from rural country to cities usually results in overcrowding and crime. Families in rural areas thus won't be separated, as their young ones will not move to cities to find jobs. It thus maintains political stability in the country.

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This is a project worth watching. I will update you further in this blog.