Large scale utilization of appropriate technology is the key of the Arcadia Village.

 

This website is funded by Action Travel, a wildlife specialist tour operator, and is about my dream of building an appropriate technology based village in Letaba Ranch, a 40.000 hectares Nature Reserve near Phalaborwa, a small town bordering the Kruger National Park in the Limpopo Province of  South Africa.

Most of the people erroneously believe that in order to create jobs massive capital investments are needed. Unemployment is, in their opinion, essentially caused by lack of money to be invested in order to create jobs.

This popular belief is incorrect. Lack of capital may influence the productivity of the job but not the number of jobs created that depends mainly from entrepreneurial skills and from the choice of applicable technologies.

Low cost technologies, as '700 European agriculture, based on natural fertilizers and animal driven agricultural implements, can be amazingly effective, when the cost of manpower is low.

As an example, by using those "obsolete" agricultural methods it is possible to obtain, on good soil, wheat crops in the region of one metric ton per hectare.

If we consider about 5 days/hectare for ploughing, 2 for harrowing, 1 for seeding, 1 for mowing and 1 for threshing it will take on average 1 working day to produce 100 Kg of wheat, roughly equivalent to the needs of one person for one year.

The wheat so obtained can be consumed simply by boiling it in soup, or crushed to make bread.

The bran (after being used to clean dishes and pots) can be used to feed chickens and pigs, so contributing to produce meat proteins.

By adding to the diet milk and dairy products, potatoes, rice, maize, poultry, rabbits, sheep, beef, fish, salads and fruit, the food requirements of an agricultural community of some thousand people can be largely satisfied with the food produced within the community itself.

At the same time a large number of jobs will be created with a minimum investment of capital. As a matter of fact a couple of ploughs, one harrow and a small threshing machine will cost a few thousand rand only and they will feed hundreds of people.

When using wood stoves for cooking, the ash produced can be used for washing, as it was done in Europe for centuries.

The used water will be very good for irrigating the vegetable garden, particularly if the soil is of the acid type.

Very good brown sugar can be produced by squeezing sugar beets (in a home made press operated by a car jack) and boiling the juice to evaporate the water. The residual of the pressing it is a very good aliment for pigs.

There are literally hundreds of such low cost solutions available and their combined application will make possible for the residents of a rural community of a certain size to reach a reasonably good standard of living in a relatively short time.

COMPETITIVELY OF APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES

Many people find it difficult to believe that simple and inexpensive technologies could be really competitive in the modern world.

They are not considering that, in the modern world, far less than 10% of total working hours are directly invested to secure food, housing and services essential to human development.

As a matter of fact, more than half of what is industrially produced today (e.g. armaments) it is not directly beneficial to the vast majority of people and can be eliminated without causing a direct lowering of living standards.

Others products satisfy needs that depend on a particular situation. If you change the situation the need disappears.

No one, for example, is discussing the need of everyone to possess a motorcar in a modern city. But in a village designed for pedestrian, the motorcar will only be a luxury, not a necessity.

By reducing the numbers of motorcars, we will not only reduce the capitals and labour invested in motor car manufacturing, but in all related fields, from the extraction, distillation and distribution of petrol to the cost of parking meters.

Those saved capitals and labour can then be invested in order to satisfy real needs of the community.

Even social expenditures such as health services can be dramatically reduced in communities where the residents perform a job they like, have sufficient physical activity and eat healthy foods, simply because it will be less people needing care and those people will respond better to treatment.

It is not difficult to understand that, giving priority to essential products and services (and increasing the total time allocated to the production of such products and services), it will be possible to create and maintain a good quality of life even with low productivity technologies.

This is possible within set parameters. Communities with less than one thousand inhabitants hardly can diversify enough the activities in order to provide a comfortable lifestyle to residents, while communities of more than thirty thousand become expensive to administer, without showing a meaningful increase in the quality of living.

The appropriate technologies (based on tools and simple machines) are far more affordable than conventional technologies (that require complicated and expensive machinery, manned by highly specialized personnel). Appropriate technologies are also easier to learn and more pleasurable to use than conventional technologies and will allow more flexibility in the use of the work force.

Additional benefits include low cost job creation, better quality products, a more efficient utilization of non-renewable resources and a far lower level of pollution.

TOURISTIC VALUE OF APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES

The decision of utilizing appropriate technologies to realize a new settlement (besides dramatically reducing the amount of capital required), introduces one element of very high tourist value, by giving the village an extremely valuable "bygone era" flavour.

In fact, each individual application of those technologies can become a primary tourist attraction on it’s own, especially for visitors originating from highly industrialized countries.

A "MAN-SIZED" VILLAGE

We hope to build an Arcadian type village, based on architectural style typical of rural '700, constructed of local materials by a largely unskilled workforce and capable to generate deep positive emotions in residents and visitors.

The beautiful feeling to be transported back in time in to a place that a normal person can still understand will be enhanced by a dress code inspired to local traditions, to be adopted by residents and visitors. Suitable clothing to sell to visitors can be produced in the village, reinforcing the uniqueness of the experience and providing the village with an additional source of income.

LOCATION OF THE VILLAGE

It will be very advantageous if the village could be located in proximity of one area already attracting a sizable number of international tourists during the whole year. The area known as the Letaba Ranch, near Phalaborwa in the Limpopo Province of South Africa represent the ideal setting for such a village.

The nearby Kruger National Park already attract about one million visitors a year and the presence of the village in the vicinity will create an additional attraction of very high level, increasing the number and the duration of stay of the tourists, to the benefit of local communities.

POPULATION

The most of the village population will be made by local people, researchers, small scale entrepreneurs, NGO's personnel, newly matriculated individuals looking to gain work experience, still active retired people and professional people with activities that can be conducted via internet.

LEGAL STATUS

In order to secure the maximum commitment to the project and to avoid potential conflict with trade unions it is absolutely imperative the whole village to be registered as a co-operative company. We suggest the emission of 10.000.000 shares of which 51% reserved to residents, no more than 40% to the investors and 9% to management.

REMUNERATION

To secure the success of the project it is vital to attract and retain in the village the best possible quality of people, including a certain number of researchers and experts.

It will be necessary to adopt stringent screening procedures, in order to recruit the best available people and not to burden the project with unsuitable elements. This screening process must be continuous, enabling the village to democratically remove the less compatible elements on a monthly basis.

In this way it will be possible to continuously improve the quality of the people involved, assuring at the same time, their best commitment.

As the major investment in this project will be the cost of training the residents, a good health should be a basic prerequisite for selection, in order to reassure the investors on the long-term return of the training provided.

To boost motivation every month 10 shares can be donated to each worker, 40 to each expert and 80 to each resident specialist until the total distribution of 5.100.000 shares will be obtained.

The first six months of residing at the village is to be considered as a training period and only after successfully completing this period it should be possible to register as permanent residents.

Whoever, for whatever reason, will cease to be a permanent resident will have to sell his (or her) shares in an auction open to permanent residents only, the procedure being a sort of liquidation for the contribution given to the village.

In this way we make sure that eventually the majority of shares will be in the hands of reliable and professionally qualified people, who have lived in the village for several years.

Those people are going to be the best possible partners to investors and management in order to ensure the long-term success of the project.

COMMUNITY WORK

In order to create and maintain the infrastructures and the services needed for the success of the project at the lowest possible cost, each resident between 14 and 65 years of age (experts and specialists included) should provide a minimum of 20 hours of community work per week.

This work should be compensated with cash remuneration and by awarding them with "exchange vouchers" which will allow the residents to enjoy goods and services produced inside the villages.

The effective value of the "exchange vouchers" corresponding to twenty working hours of a simple worker must be enough to secure him (or her) of adequate food, decent housing and access to basic services.

This result can be achieved by a sensible use of appropriate technologies, provided the village population is large enough to consent an adequate differentiation of activities and the land available for farming is adequate to the community’s needs.

The cash compensation should be of about R 1.00 per hour, in order to consent to residents the purchase of essential products not produced in the village.

Experts (artisans with apprentices, supervisors, paramedics, teachers etc.) should receive four times the basic remuneration and the specialists eight times.

The numeric relationship between those categories should be of about one expert for every five workers and one specialist for every five experts. The average cost of cash retribution per person will be then below R 35.00 per person per week.

This implies that on average each resident, in order to cover his cash retribution, must produce goods or services every week, to be sold outside the village to the value of thirty five rand, target reasonable enough even for low productivity technologies.

Once having completed the twenty hours community work, the residents will be assisted in establishing a private activity on the basis of profit sharing with the community.

In this way it will be possible to successfully reconcile social interest with free enterprise.

FINANCING

Beside the private sector, this project fully qualifies for financing from the United Nations, the G8 and the European Community.

PHASE ONE

·        Identify a suitable area for the location of the village

·        Secure a viable option on approximately four thousand hectares

·        Identify all available local resources

·        Define the more suitable construction method

·        Draw a basic plan of the village

·        Realize a basic project for the whole operation

·        Produce a suitable presentation of the basic project, including a CD Rom and a professional website

·        Obtain support from local authorities, investors, sponsors and experts worldwide

·        Produce the executive project

·        Realize an adequate presentation of the executive project for all interested parties

·        Obtain full financial cover for the realization of the initial phases, knowing that once the project will be running, further expansions will be largely self-financed.

PHASE TWO

·        Select the specialist team to start the project

·        Initiate the selection of applicants

·        Erect temporary structures for accommodation and workshops

·        Bring fresh water to the construction site and install septic tanks

·        Plant blackberry type bushes on boundaries

·        Start a sustainable fishing operation

·        Introduce wild game in part of the property

·        Initiate cattle, sheep, pig and poultry farming in selected areas

·        Realize a dam for irrigation purpose and fish farming

·        Start growing vegetables

·        Start bottling farm produces

·        Start biltong manufacturing

·        Start producing building materials

·        Start making farm roads and parking areas

·        Open a shop for farm products

·        Organize one barbeque area and provide accommodation for visitors

PHASE THREE

·        Start building permanent farm houses and workshops

·        Start producing flour, bread and pasta

·        Start recycling of garbage

·        Start producing honey, candles, soap, natural beauty products, soft drinks, beer and alcoholic beverages

·        Build a restaurant, a lodge and a small shopping / business centre

At the end of this period the village will be in a position to produce the majority of the food needed by its growing population and it will be a surplus to sell.

This is a reasonable assumption, based on the fact that European peasants of '700, utilizing inferior tools and technology and burdened by taxes, were still able to feed themselves.

PHASE FOUR

During this phase the population will grow to several thousand and more farm buildings and workshops will be built.

The agricultural and livestock farming productions will reach optimal dimensions and the village will produce a sizable surplus, agricultural and otherwise. Essential products that cannot be locally produced will be purchased in bulk utilizing trade profits.

This strategy will consent the residents to enjoy good and healthy food, decent accommodation and basic social services in a very short time, at a very low cost for the investors.

Guests will be mainly accommodated in lodges and the various smallholdings, where they will enjoy good food and a healthy, relaxed lifestyle.

Typically a smallholding will occupy from two to ten hectares of land. An agricultural system based on rotation and integration of cultivation could produce wheat, barley, oats, maize, rice, peanuts, sun flowers, carrots, celery, turnips, beet, potatoes, asparagus, cabbages, cauliflower, beans, broad beans, peas, chickpeas, artichokes, fennel, cardoon, aubergine, green and red pepper, spinach, cucumbers, lettuce, pumpkins, watermelons, garlic, onions, aromatic herbs etc.

Fruit initially produced will be of the type without kernel, in particular blackberries and strawberries, which is quicker to grow.

In the following years it may be possible to produce (in addition to coconuts) apples, pears, oranges, lemons, peaches, figs, prunes and tropical fruits.

Livestock will include cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, poultry and rabbits.

In this way a large part of the food for the people of each smallholding, plus a surplus for trade, can be produced on the same smallholding where it will be consumed.

By concentrating the cultivation of a variety of crops in a relatively small area and by a sensible rotation of cultures it will be possible to control parasites without pesticides and the manure produced on the smallholdings will increase the soil fertility.

In addition to farming activities, like in China rural villages, every smallholding will specialize in the production of some product needed in the village or to be traded externally to provide cash to the community.

Guests who will be accommodated on the smallholdings will be able to directly participate and assist in all activities.

Following is a short list of activities, compatible with appropriate technology concepts that may be carried out in an A.T. village during this phase:

·        Charcoal making

·        Road building

·        Making of septic tanks

·        Brick and blocks making

·        Hydrated lime making

·        Woodwork, including the making of planks

·        Building of houses and workshops

·        Making of doors and windows

·        Glass recycling

·        Making of sanitary fittings

·        Making of fixtures and furniture

·        Ice making

·        Baking

·        Fishing

·        Butchering

·        Making sausages and biltong

·        Soap and candle making

·        Pottery

·        Producing of jam and preserves

·        Producing of dairy products

·        Making of wool mattresses

·        Wool and cotton spinning

·        Wool knitting

·        Carpet weaving

·        Linen manufacturing

·        Clothing manufacturing

·        Fish farming

·        Production of soft drinks

·        Beer production

·        Iced cream making

·        Herbal remedies manufacturing

·        Pharmaceutical preparations

·        Boat making

·        Making of natural beauty products

·        Wine and spirit production

·        Tanning of leather

·        Leather works

·        Bee keeping

·        Manufacturing of wind mills

·        Milling of wheat and maize

·        Shoemaking

·        Wrought iron works

·        Mechanical works

·        Cast iron works

·        Garbage recycling

·        Assembly of taps and fittings

·        Manufacturing of lead-acid batteries

·        Electrical and electronic assembly work

Once satisfied the residents primary needs concerning food, shelter and clothing, it will be possible to devote more resources to the development of the services of management, administration, education, security, health, sport and recreational activities.

Resident specialists assisted by a suitable number of resident experts will manage all of these services.

In case of emergencies it must be possible to draw additional manpower from a pool of trained "reservists", in order to maintain a very lean administration force for routine work. Voluntary committees will supervise the social services of the village.

In this phase it will be possible to draw substantial profits from tourism, by providing medium-scale accommodation.

PHASE FIVE

Once secured the "public services" to the village, the focus will be on providing accommodation to the increased number of tourists. It will be the time to build hotels and lodges, utilizing local materials and technologies, in order not to loose the special character of the village.

By utilizing local skills and materials the larger part of the new investments will be spent in the village, increasing the collective wealth.

For the tourists the village will represent a romantic and affordable destination.

They will enjoy comfortable accommodation, good food and excellent service and a variety of additional services at very competitive prices.

In addition to all activities connected with wildlife and ecotourism, it should be possible to participate to crash courses in various languages, slimming and detoxifying programs, beauty treatments based on natural products and to receive training in music, dancing, pottery, weaving etc.

Yet the major attraction will be to witness how it was made possible, with simple tools and appropriate technologies and in a very short time, to bring prosperity to thousands of people.

In addition to tourists, specially if the malaria fever in the area can be controlled to a good extent, very high potential revenue can be generated by foreign retired people looking for a comfortable, affordable and interesting place where to live for the most part of the year.

In addition, senior citizens still be able to carry out certain activities may give a formidable boost to the village because they can provide the villagers experienced training in various fields.

The presence of retired people in the village will also attract visits from relatives and friends worldwide.

REASONS FOR CHOOSING APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES

A multi-disciplinary project of this type can appear unnecessarily complicated, when confronted with a relatively simpler traditional holiday village.

This it not the case when taken into consideration that:

·        A conventional tourist village of the same number of beds, even if less attractive to the tourists, will be far more expensive to build and manage. In addition it will create less jobs and it will not qualify for international subsidies.

·        In a conventional tourist village if, for any reason, the number of visitors decreases it will cause massive financial losses. In our village it will perhaps slow down the growth but it will not cause losses at all because the exuberant personnel will spontaneously move to other activities within the village, boosting the supply of goods and services internally and to neighbouring communities.

·        The technologies to be utilized in this project are all simple, low cost and easy to learn even from an unskilled work force.

·        For the social value of the projects it will be possible to receive assistance from NGOs and Universities, while the same will not be possible in the case of a conventional tourist village.

·        A very large part of the working activities in the village will be directed to the production of goods and services for internal use. Even if those activities will reduce dramatically the cost of building and maintain the village they will not be directly taxable because they will not receive a monetary value but will be compensated in "exchange vouchers" for internal use only.

·        The VAT paid on goods purchased by the village can be redeemed against VAT received for services rendered to tourists, with tremendous economic advantages for the investors.

·        From the Government’s point of view this project is close to ideal because, without any direct cost, it will create a large number of permanent jobs. In addition it will maintain and protect local customs, attract international media positive coverage and bring to the country much-needed foreign exchange.

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

In a project of this type, a sizable increase of productivity (up to 300%) can be obtained by a systematic use of participative management, instead of traditional bureaucratic management.

The style of management advocated, centred on the person, will promote a faster growth rate, reduce the need for supervision and it will secure continuous motivation and creativity.

In this project the basic social structure is based on an enlarged family model, made by a master of art (baker, cabinet maker, bee keeper etc), his family, his apprentices and his visitors.

The fact to be living together in the same smallholding will consent a far better quality of living than if everyone was living on their own premises.

In addition, the possibility to sit together during dinner will provide the opportunity to continuous cultural enrichment, based on the free exchange of ideas.

It will be the family/working unit as a whole to take decisions regarding matters of common interest and to delegate one of the members to represent them at higher level.

This management style, opposing the concept that directives must always emanate from the top and "explained" to subordinates, is based on the proven tendency of every human being to realize his potential at his best when the obstacles to his natural development are removed.

For this reason, when in one operational unit the single individuals are helped to harmonize their natural tendencies of self-realization, it follows a remarkable increase in productivity together with less need of supervision.

From the entrepreneurial point of view this person centred management style brings a far more stable and productive workforce, no resistance to professional mobility and a sharp reduction on supervision costs.

One added benefit is the enormous contribution to realize one harmonious atmosphere, ideal for a village that looks at the tourists as it’s main source of income.

For these reasons the residents should enjoy a very large decisional power (within well-defined parameters) regarding constructions of residential, commercial, industrial, public and agricultural buildings and the best utilization of the land at their disposal.

This will avoid (yet maintaining a style homogenous) the artificiality and depressing architectural monotony of the conventional tourist villages.

CONCLUSION

The village we want to build will offer to the international tourist the unique experience of travelling in space and time, to a fascinating parallel universe where the best aspects of the civilization of two centuries ago will pacifically co-exist with satellite communications, personal computers and modern medicine.

Thanks to the appropriate technologies it will be possible to produce a better and happier lifestyle for the residents, with fewer capitals needed to be invested and higher than average returns for the investors.

It is not going to be easy. For instance, to secure the success of the operation it is indispensable to protect for years the residents from the allurements of the consumeristic world, and this task can be far more difficult than it appears.

The residents will be able to enjoy in a relatively short time, food, housing, clothing and basic services well above local average.

They will be in a position to enjoy themselves by participating to parties and concerts, frequenting a gym or a library, or having meals at Restaurants and Pizzerias.

Still the beer they will drink will be village made and at concerts will be a local band to play.

For many years they will have to do without brand name clothing, KFC and even Coca-Cola, if we want the village to grow, and this is not a small problem in today world.

Certainly there are going to be serious problems, as always when someone does something new, but also the rewards are going to be a lot higher than normal.

Just the increase in property values within two years can easily double the total sum of the capitals invested.

In fact, when the cost of building is basically reduced to the cost of labour and the cost of labour is a fraction of current costs, the commercial value of the buildings will be several time their building cost.

Obviously, to make it possible, it is imperative to limit ourselves to a specific building method, utilizing mainly local materials and applying a high degree of standardization in the basic components (including roofing, fixtures, flooring, electrical and sanitary fittings, furniture and sewers), to be constructed in the village, in a scale large enough, by an adequate number of people, provided with sufficient skills and the right tools.

For this reason it is essential to respect a minimum size for the village.

Under the one thousand residents the whole project will not be viable, but it will be better to have a lot more (up to thirty thousand) for the best results.

Naturally, with a work force largely based on experienced senior citizen guiding largely unskilled people, we need to be very careful about the technological solutions to be adopted, in order to optimise the utilization of human resources.

It is not going to be easy, we said, but definitively it will be not impossible.

The Italian Renaissance was built, in a scale similar to the one suggested, utilizing technologies far less efficient as the ones available today, and without foreign tourism to cover the costs.

Andrea Sandri-Boriani

COPYRIGHT Ó ANDREA SANDRI-BORIANI, 2001