DILVA BACORIZO
Oakland University &
University of South Florida
May 2015
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
NAME
Dilva Bacorizo
AGE
?
PROFESSION
Farmer
STATUS
Married
NUMBER OF CHILDREN
Three children: 20 year old son; two
daughters in school.
BUSINESS
Agriculture
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
N/A
BUSINESS OVERVIEW
Dilva farms plantains and cassava. She currently has three hectares of land, but only uses half of one.
Plantains usually sell for $4-$5 per head; however, she only sells plantains once a year. During a good year,
she sells 15 plantain heads. During a low performance year, she sells 5 plantain heads. She is selling cassava
for $7. She only sells crafts when brigades come and keeps the crafts in her house during the rest of the year.
She has four pigs; one male; three females; one female pig is pregnant. She wants to get rid of the pigs; she no
longer wants to be in the pig business.
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
FACTOR 1
FACTOR 2
FACTOR 3
•  Very open to new
•  Yields a high profit from •  Has a lot of land (lots
ideas; seemed like
selling cassava
of room for expansion)
she relied on our
•  Buys 50 cassava roots
•  She currently has 3
ideas and was very
for $3 and sells each
hectares of land, but
receptive
cassava for $7
only uses half of a
•  Took action before
•  It is also possible for her
hectare.
we told her to and
to sell the cassava at $8
STRENGHTS
asked her husband to
per cassava, because
help her take water
that is the price that the
to her pigs
rest of the community is
selling cassava for.
FACTOR 4
•  Good at keeping
track of profits and
expenses
•  Good understanding
of savings
•  Very familiar with the
Caja Rural
•  Understands savings
and successfully took
out and paid back a
loan
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
FACTOR 1
CHALLENGES
FACTOR 2
•  She has a hard time
•  She relies on plantains a lot,
selling plantains because
but they are a poor source of
she competes with sister
income. Although she sells all
and other community
of her plantains when she
members. Also has to
goes to the road to sell, some
spend all day selling
years she only sells 5 heads
plantains on the side of
of plantain which she sells at
the road from at least
$4-$5 (depending on size).
9am-4pm. Only sells
This is not enough money to
plantains once a year.
cover the cost of clearing
land (she pays $12 five times
•  Limited cassava
a year).
production due to lack of •  Husband does not help her
cleared land nearby. She
clear the land or feed/water
produces her cassava in
the pigs. Leads to her having
land that is an hour away. to pay $60 per year for the
clearing of land.
FACTOR 3
FACTOR 4
•  She breaks even with the •  Her crafts are only being
income made from the
sold to brigade
pigs because the pig food volunteers. The
is so expensive. Meaning
remainder of the year the
that the pig business is
crafts are kept inside of
not a profitable source of
her house. This is a loss
income for her.
on her part because she
has paid for the materials
and they are not being
sold.
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
-  Describe meeting
-  What did you and the
business owner(s) do?
-  How did the business
owner(s) react?
-  What questions did
the business owner(s)
have?
-  What specific
requests did the
business owner(s)
have?
-  What
recommendations did
you provide?
-  What are some next
steps?
-  etc.
Day 3 – 5/5/2015
Day 4 – 5/6/2015
Day 5 – 5/7/2015
• We discussed her current business
standing. We found out that her
plantain business was not as
profitable as we had hoped and
that she is actually incurring a loss
during some years.
• We Identified other areas of
income. She also sells cassava and
raises pigs.
• We went over what last brigade did
(eg. signs & accounting book). She
explained to us how she tracks her
expenses and profit and said she
will bring the book for us on day 4
to look at.
• We talked about personal life and
expenses. Found that neither her
nor her husband has a stable
source of income. Her husband
clears land, but irregularly
• Tomorrow, we will continue
discussions with sister, who is in
the same business market.
•  We visited her farm (plantation &
cassava).
•  We sat down with sister and discussed
plantain stand. Then we understood that
her sister and her do not have the best
relationship. The previous night we found
that both sisters gave conflicting
information, but when brought together
Dilva’s sister changed her information.
There may be a family conflict involved.
•  We had further discussions regarding pig
farming strategies. After looking at the
pigs, we found that they were
malnourished and dehydrated and
needed to be sold as quickly as possible.
•  We talked more about expanding cassava
farming. She has more land that was
recently cleared nearby that she is
considering using for plantain farming.
We suggested that she should plant more
cassava, because she earns a higher profit
on cassava.
•  We presented her with our final ideas
and our plan.
•  Because she wanted to get rid of the
pigs, we found the most cost
effective way to get rid of the pigs.
•  We discussed continuing to harvest
the plantains, but not planting more
planting because she is making a
loss.
•  We also discussed that she should
plant cassava in the newly cleared
field instead of plantains, because
she makes a higher profit from
cassava.
•  Also, we discussed selling crafts. She
will try to sell them when she goes
into town to buy pig feed. She will
also try to make a deal with
someone in town to sell her crafts.
•  After presenting these ideas and
plans, Dilva was very grateful. She
said she had not thought of these
ideas and was very happy that we
came to the community to work
with her.
•  The next step for us is to devise a plan
that is achievable for Dilva.
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
SOLUTION 1
•  Created a 7 month
business plan for
selling the pigs
•  Outlined specific
instructions on how
to take care of the
pigs and suggested
PROPOSED
the best time to sell
SOLUTIONS
the remaining pigs
SOLUTION 2
SOLUTION 3
SOLUTION 4
•  Created a plan for the
•  Proposed that she
•  Gave suggestions for
planting of plantains
could raise the price of
craft
and cassava
her cassava to $8 per •  Told her that she
•  Suggested that she
cassava, because this
should not only sell
should cut back on
is the minimum price
to brigade volunteers
plantain farming and
that the other
and should go into
should increase cassava
community members
the city to sell her
production
are selling their
crafts
cassava for
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
FURTHER DETAILS & OBSERVATIONS
Identify that there are more businesses than just the plantains. She also has cassava, pigs and crafts. When
talking to Dilva, ensure that you find out her interest and other sources of income that may not be listed.
Husband is not participating in business; not clearing land, when that is his primary occupation. Pigs are
underfed and dehydrated. She has the ability to create artisans, but only has the opportunity to sell when the
brigades are in town.
INFORMATION GATHERED AFTER INITIAL QUESTIONS
There is more to her business than we initially thought. Initially, we thought she only sold plantains, but she
also sells cassava, crafts and raises pigs. We also learnt more about her participation in the Caja Rural.
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
NEXT STEPS
IMMEDIATE CHANGES
SHORT TERM
CHANGES (WITHIN 3
MONTHS)
MEDIUM – LONGER
TERM CHANGES (+3
MONTHS)
•  Kill and sell one of the pigs
•  Purchase water tube for pregnant mother pig
•  Complete clearing land
•  Plant cassava in cleared land
•  Castrate and kill male pig
•  Contact hotels in Santa Fe about selling crafts
•  Complete the rest of the pig plan that we provided for her
•  Focus on cassava rather than plantain, because it provides more of a profit
•  Rely less on plantain sales
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
BEST PRACTICES FOR DELIVERING WORKSHOPS
The best thing to do is to create activities in which they can participate. This keeps them more involved and
more attentive. It allows community members to have a better understanding of the topics taught.
Additionally, using examples from their own lives and from our own lives helps them understand the topic;
also ask the community members to repeat what was explained because it allows brigade volunteers to
understand what the community has comprehended from the lesson.
ADVICE FOR FUTURE BRIGADES
We suggest that future brigades are patient with them, especially in the beginning. They are going to be shy
but you have to try and break that as soon as possible. They have a lot of questions and really want to learn.
Talking about your personal life such as family or asking about their family is a great ice breaker and really
gets them talking. Ensure that you always start with an ice-breaker, this sets the tone for the remainder of the
lesson.
DILVA BACORIZO (MAY 2015)
CONTACT DETAILS
BUSINESS OWNER(S)
COORDINATOR
TRANSLATOR(S)
[UNIVERSITY]
BUSINESS BRIGADE
Name: Dilva Bacorizo
Name: N/A
Name: Patricia Morales Afu
Name: Francisco Jean Louis
Name: Francisco Jean Louis
Phone:
Email: [email protected]
Names of all students: Oakland University (Drew Steffes, Monica Suda) & University of
South Florida (Harmelle Davis, Sharifa Al Lamki, Deja Dale)