There are 70 million Pakistani peasants who who rely on lanterns to read books in the dark.
The average daily cost of living for rural Pakistanis is only 520 rupees (about USD 2), of which 300 rupees are used to walk four hours a day to buy water, and the remaining 220 rupees are used to sustain life.
When will they be able to get out of this endless cycle of poverty?
Who Brought the Solar Pump to Countryside?
‘How can I make their lives better?’
There was a city dweller who was obsessed with this matter. Her name is Fariel Salahuddin. As a child, she followed her grandmother in rural service in the countryside, and was shocked by the huge life gap between the city and the countryside.
In the city, you turn the tap to get water, and press the button to get electricity. In the countryside, however, it took four hours to get water and electricity is not even available.
The easiest way out of poverty was electricity, water and solar pumps. Grown-up Fariel goes to the countryside with a solar pump
“If you have a solar pump, you can get water and electricity right away.”
However, the price of 2,200,000 rupees was difficult to afford even with the entire fortune of the villagers. (approximately USD 10,000)
Fair Trade in Goats Instead of Money
At that time, 400 goats grazing leisurely caught her eye.
“Why don’t you change the solar pump and the goat?”
“You don’t need rupees or dollars.”
Only the goats are traded for solar installations. Goats, evaluated by weight, age and number of teeth, was exchanged for a solar pump. That’s how the “Goats for water” business started.
Goat gets on the P2P Platform
Farmers got solar pumps, but Fariel faces new challenges.
‘What should I do with 400 goats?’
It wasn’t an easy question.
The cell phone alarm went off then.
It was about finding goats for ancestral rites during the upcoming Islamic holiday. Fariel sold them goats at a sufficient profit, and took advantage of this experience to develop a P2P online platform where consumers and suppliers deal directly. This digital platform, where goats are traded like currency, quickly became a marketplace for many peasants.
Goat Coin, Rejuvenate the Countryside
Now, rural people can trade directly with their phones equally and conveniently. Profits were greatly increased by eliminating unnecessary distribution processes between villages and villages, between villages and businesses, between villages and cities, and directly transacting with goats.
The advantages of underdeveloped countries are ‘cheap’ labor and crops and livestock.
Isn’t that ‘cheap’ price hiding the legitimate value of the labor stolen from the peasants?