The market
The global buckwheat market in 2010 has reached around $ 400 million. Total production has only reached 1.5 million tonnes, only half of world production ten years earlier. While climatic conditions in Russia, second world producer after China, have strongly influenced production and changed prices to consumers from one to three dollars per kilogram, landowners are increasingly producing under large companies that offer An income predictability. The five main combined producers (China, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and the United States) represent more than 80 %, and China's production represents 39 % of the total. China is not only the world's leading producer, it is also a pioneer in innovation with more than 100 full -time researchers of 66 institutions focusing on the increase in yields that increased 70 % in the three last decades. The buckwheat has been cultivated in the highlands of Central Asia for at least 5,000 years. Gluten -free grain was introduced in Europe about a thousand years ago and entered North America at the end of the 19th century. She has provided food security in Himalayas for generations with two main varieties: common buckwheat which produces 750 kilograms (kg) per hectare and bitter buckwheat which produces 1,600 kg per hectare. The buckwheat can be cultivated up to 4,400 meters above sea level and the period between sowing and harvest is only 30 days. In Japan, buckwheat goes from seed to soba paste ready for consumption in just 75 days. The buckwheat pushes so quickly that it eliminates most weeds. It can be cultivated on poor soil, does not require any pesticides or fertilizers and is ideal for preparing the land for organic farming. Buckwheat is mainly used in the world for pancakes and pancakes (Europe and North America) and Soba noodles (Japan). However, in the Himalayas, 70 %of buckwheat meets local needs.
Innovation
Buckwheat is one of the most effective vegetable protein producers, unrivaled by any other cereal (even if it is classified as a fruit because of its pyramidal shape). The human body can digest 74 % of the buckwheat protein content which includes 8 essential amino acids, vitamin E and almost the whole spectrum of the B complex which helps the body meet insulin needs. Buckwheat honey contains up to 20 times more antioxidants than any other honey, thus offering a first quality by-product. The shells are used as a packaging material, as a basic material for heating cushions, as a raw material for mattresses and as a padding for hypoallergenic pillows that offer excellent neck support. However, advertising has changed the image of buckwheat and the local population prefers more and more imported white rice. This evolution of consumer preferences is likely to bring down buckwheat into oblivion despite the ease of agriculture and the health benefits of buckwheat, whose ability to reconstruct surface soil is indisputable. In Europe and North America, the flower has only increased popularity among people with diabetes. The buckwheat, which is an integral part of the Himalayan culture and tradition, today may disappear. This would not only represent a loss of income for farmers who cannot compete with the cereals produced en masse at subsidized rates, but this would imply a fundamental change in society. Kinley Tshering studied forestry at the University of Montana, in Missoula (USA). Born in Bhutan, and interested in the preservation of its national tradition, in particular its economy and its ecosystems based on the native forest motivated it to obtain a diploma in forest management. However, when he lived in Montana, he also learned to brew beer. Originally, it was attracted by the concept of the blue economy in its role as chief forest of Bhutan. After participating in the meetings, he had the opportunity to rethink the brewing of buckwheat beer. When he learned about the corporate model described by Mr. Sy Chen, the Japanese expert in brand image and marketing, he realized that if Bhutan buckwheat could not compete in international markets, It would constitute an ideal basis for the creation of a unique organic beer without buckwheat alcohol. As Sy explains, non -alcoholic beer represents the drinking segment that experiences the strongest growth in Japan. The business model does not consist in producing beer in Bhutan from buckwheat and shipping it in Japan: the innovation of the concept proposed by Sy is to grant a license to the brand and to provide key ingredients. The first assessment indicates that revenues from beer sales fees may generate more income than buckwheat export.
The first cash flow
Sy and his team from Creative Intelligence Associates in Japan have developed the Pawo brand. The brand has been recorded in Japan and is the property of the Bhoutani ministry of agriculture and forests. Jim Lueders of the Wildwood Brewery in Stephensville, Montana, just 20 miles from the place where Kinley studied, is ready to make the first breweries from a buckwheat extract. If the buckwheat was exported, and used for brewing beer, then only starch would be valued. The rest would be found in the form of cheap animal food. However, if the Bhutanese first produce an extract from malt, the remaining 92 % can be used as local animals to replace food imported from India, dear and poor quality, which are mainly derived from agricultural waste and Fish processing industry residues. Each tonne of buckwheat would then provide 900 kg of animal food. As the humidity of buckwheat is only 14 % and that the worn grain after the extraction of the malt contains 50 % humidity, it represents a high quality local food which requires little or no transport, this which is advantageous for farmers and beer brewers. A typical and yet competitive model of blue economy emerges. Kinley and his team are now committed to producing a local beer, in a local brewery, with the technical support of Jim Lueders, in order to ensure that there is local expertise and a reference on the local market that projects the Good image on the international market, while meeting the needs of the local market. With an investment of around $ 600,000, the brewery could be operational by 2013.
The opportunity
The first contacts in Japan confirm that the license model is viable. However, there is a demand for more than a simple extract from the brand and malt from Bhutan. Brewing beer according to the principles of purity of 16th century Germany prescribed that only water, barley and hops must be used. While the original text omitted the mention of the yeast, which was not discovered by Louis Pasteur that more than three centuries later, the beer can only be fermented if the appropriate yeast is added or attracted. Bhutan is rich in wild yeasts, which can be harvested in the same way as several traditional beers in Belgium. This means that the exclusive license for Bhoutani beer could now generate revenue from (1) license rights calculated on beer sold, (2) from the sale of the Malt extract, (3) of the sale of Exhausted grain from the extraction process as animal food, (4) from the sale of beer on the local market and (5) of the sale of wild yeast. Alcohol production is inevitable when brewing beer. Alcohol -free beer should eliminate alcohol. Thus, in this case, we could even generate additional income - alcohol. In the future, Bhutan could even provide its own hops, thus ensuring half a dozen income sources that make Himalaya buckwheat insensitive to world market prices for this product. The organic farming program of the Ministry of Agriculture of Bhoutan will allow the recovery of organic buckwheat as part of an initiative aimed at accelerating the socio-economic development of the Bhutan. A non -competitive buckwheat that could not respond to world market prices, cultivated at more than 3,000 meters above sea level, contains a richness of traditions, culture and nutrients which today make it an engine for rural development. Better still, it preserves a millennial Himalayan culture and rural communities, while reducing expeditions and transport to the strict minimum and pursuing the objectives of the advantages of a global community. The blue economy is not against globalization, it is in favor of the ability to meet local needs, to build share capital and to ensure quality of life. The solution imagined for Bhutan is not the exception, it is part of a broader initiative aimed at growing the economy thanks to the transfer of the available resources of blind economies and vision Myopic according to which everything that matters are the low prices of products and low wages while transport and marketing are responsible for 90 % at most for the added value produced in the process, from farm to mine, for achieve the finished product. These 90 % could stay in the local community and stimulate growth in a non -inflationary way. The missing link in success is the entrepreneurs who see the opportunities and are ready to harvest the six cash flows that characterize citrus in southern Africa, apples in Chile or vegetables in Australia.
