Dear Gamini, dear Koma,

based on the very positive experiences that the Koloharena has wit hthe
Slowfoods foundation, I would like to suggest that you farmers become part of
this foundation as well.

Slowfoods is an Italian, international foundation that promotes healthy,
conscious eating and works to prodect traditional food products.
(www.slowfoods.com)
Through their foundation, the 'Ark of Taste' they sponsor producers, the so
called 'Presidia', with extraordinary products that are threatened by extinction
all over the world.
The Koloharena are a Presidia now with their red rice and SRI as a special
production technology.

As a result of their acceptance to the foundation, the Koloharena have enjoyed
significant benefits:
* they could visit the Salone del Gusto 2004 in Turin, where their rice found
enthusiastic feedback
* they established contacts with an Italian wholesaler for specialty rice
* they receives a rice mill and a packaging machine in order to produce their
product for international sales
* A beautiful brochure has been produced about the red rice that is available to
interested parties who contact Slowfoods

The greatest benefit was surely the opportunity for several farmers to visit
Italy and get a real-life experience of the European market. (Premarathna went
to the Terra Madre conference at the same time, which is also Slowfoods). I very
much appreciate the idea that SRI supporters and farmers from Sri Lanka and
Cambodia are present on the next Salone del Gusto in October this year.
(Salone del Gusto Link:
http://www.salonedelgusto.com/eng/pagine/03_presidi.lasso?-session=carrello:C82A\
A728C04F94C4436405E53AF7EBCC)
This would allow us to bring the whole core team of the SRI Rice Marketing
Initiative together in Italy in the fall. There we can not only promote our
products but also get to meat each other and make further plans for the
development of the marketing initiative.

Therefore, I suggest that you respectively the farmer groups in your country
apply for acceptance to the Ark of Taste foundation.
The first step is very easy:
you just nees to fill in the following online form:
http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/eng/presidi/segnala.lasso

How the decision process works after this is not quite clear from the website,
but probably Glenn and the Koloharena can tell you more about this.

All the best to all of you!

Christina



If Ark products can have an economic impact, they can be saved from extinction.
This is the simple reasoning behind the Presidia; small projects to assist
groups of artisan producers. Sometimes, it takes just a little to save an
artisan food; it’s enough to bring together producers, help them coordinate
marketing and promotion, and establish quality and authenticity standards for
their product. Other times, when the production of an artisan food is closer to
the brink, it takes more: building a slaughterhouse, an oven, or reconstructing
crumbling farmhouse walls. Slow Food Presidia work in different ways, but the
goals remain constant: to promote artisan products; to stabilize production
techniques; to establish stringent production standards and, above all, to
guarantee a viable future for traditional foods.

The Presidia products have not only conquered cooks and gourmets, but have won
over everyday consumers as well. The success of the Presidia has been highly
esteemed, but the most important result of the project is that it has proven
that consumers are willing to pay fair prices for Ark products, and that their
production can be an economically viable activity.

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