Category: Ecuador Q&A

For all the latest investor opportunities available in Ecuador, businesses for sale, project ideas, or more check here. If you have an opportunity you’d like to publish write us via the contact form.

Prepping the land for success in Ecuador

Next up after tractoring the land came digging out the on-site resevoir which had been overgrown by weeds.

The resevoir is fed by a “seikia” or a shared irrigation system common in Ecuador where rivers are split off into canal-like things to farm certain areas.

My lot has rights to part of the “seikia”.

I had to hire an excavator truck to come and dig the resevoir out.

This guy charged $30 an hour. And he was finished in 4 hrs.

Total cost $120.

After that, next came the organic fertilizer of hen droppings and rice shells.

Two truck loads for my hectare (2.2 acres), each truck load had 9 cubic meters of material. Total heavy equipment rental prices for both loads to about $480. When you buy fertilizer in Ecuador, be sure it doesnt have too much wood mulch in it, and that it is HEN droppings (gallina) as chicken (pollo) droppings are not as good a quality.

After getting the fertilizer I had to pay 3 guys a total of $100 to spread it around, it took them about a day and a half.

See pic below.

tractor

If you liked this article, you’d love my weekly newsletter, revealing everything you need to know BEFORE you invest in Ecuador. Unsubscribe at any time:

First Name
* Email
* = Required Field

Growing Stevia for Cash in Ecuador

OK, so after a whole lot of research, the product I´m going to harvest first in Ecuador is… drumroll please:

Stevia.

Stevia is a plant that originates from the South American Amazon (Paraguay region) that is used as a natural sweetener with zero calories used in the place of sugar.  It grows in the tropics up until 2,400 meters of altitude provided it has a steady, almost daily water source.

I know first hand that sugar is dangerous (especially for your waistline) and addictive.  The less you have the less you want it.

Why Stevia?

I like that it´s a South American plant, so it´s not like you´re forcing something on the land that shouldn´t be there.

Also, I know first-hand through serving food at the restaurant in my hotel, sometimes we serve as many as 40 people in one night, that people are getting more and more sugar-carb-gluten-lactose conscious than ever before and any product that fits in with those diets can be a winner.

In the west, Stevia is still relatively new on the scene, and on the come-up.  In 2008 certain extracts were approved by the FDA, in 2011 it was approved by the European Union.

The demand for the plant worldwide is growing exponentially.  According to El PAIS, one of the largest newspapers in Spain, Stevia consumption worldwide has grown from 35 tons in 2008 to 916 tons in 2013.

I also like that the harvest cycle is short, every 3 months you can expect a new harvest.  So I should know quickly if this is a true money maker.

Expected production and income.

80,000 plants can enter into one hectare.  I´m going to start with 40,000 plants.  Each plant is expected to produce 40-120 grams of dried leaf product each three months.  The kilo sells here in Ecuador for around $4 per kilo.  So for 40,000 plants at the low end of 40 grams per plant thats 1,600 kilos each 3 months.

Total expected income from 40,000 plants each three months= $6,400.  Total per year= $25,600.

Plus, if I grow, in the future I could export for potentially higher prices.

What will I really make?  Stay tuned to this newsletter to find out.

Expected initial costs.

I’ve been covering the costs as I go.  So far I’ve spent about $600 in prepping the land and $1250 in the annual lease paid up front.  This week i hope to install th irrigation system which could be a few thousand more dollars  but I may have found a way to minimize that cost.  I don’t plan on hiring anyone fulltime, just part timers to help weed, prune and harvest.  The average cost per day of temporary help is $15 per day.

This is still an unknown but I’ll cover this every step of the way, stay tuned!  And in the near future I may be interested in taking on an investor for a bigger plantation so if interested let me know.

So which crops are the most profitable options in Ecuador?  For that and more, you’d love my weekly newsletter, revealing everything you need to know BEFORE you invest in Ecuador. Unsubscribe at any time:

First Name
* Email
* = Required Field

The critical first 2 steps to farming a lot in Ecuador

This week I closed the deal for the lease of the 1 hectare lot near my place which I plan to farm with a soon-to-be-named product later this week (stay tuned!)…

After speaking to my agro-engineer specialist who I plan to work with on this product, the first two critical steps are taking a soil sample and tractoring the land.

For the soil sample he wanted to test the land primarily for percentage of organic material, sandyness of soil, pH and be sure there was not anything hazardous in the mix.

The cost was $45 and it will take 2 weeks to get the results back. We dropped the sample off in Tumbaco in the agro-institute across from the CNT office.

The tractoring has been in three phases.

The first phrase was to drag the lot killing all the weeds. (Rastre). 2 hrs. ($17 per hr)

The next phase was to upheave the lot to get the tired used soil below the better richer soil. 2 hrs. (17 hr)

The last phase was to once again level out the lot by draging it again. 1 hr. $17 per hr.

Total cost $85.

If you liked this article, you’d love my weekly newsletter, revealing everything you need to know BEFORE you invest in Ecuador. Unsubscribe at any time:

First Name
* Email
* = Required Field

How you avoid paying gringo prices in Ecuador

“Just pay me what you will.” Said the local who helped me find my agricultural lot this week.

I was thinking a decent finders fee in the States would be at least a few hundred if not a few thousand dollars, so I was going to offer him a few hundred.

Then I caught myself!

Don’t think like that when you move to another country, I told myself.

Always always always pay the minumum amount accepted by the other person or ‘best price’ even if you think it’s TOO embarrasing low.

Why?

Because if you don’t you’re setting yourself up for that person in the future to overcharge you cause he’ll think “well, I’m going to milk it, he can pay it”.

That’s how a lot of people down here think. Rich Ecuadorians know it.

Always play “I’m broke” even if you’re not or you set yourself up to be a target in the future.

Never overpay!

To avoid being “gringoed” insist on them giving YOU the price.

Especially, when you don’t know how much the service or property should cost. And often being in a new land, you won’t know.

Afterall, how much is it to fix a sink in Manta, Ecuador?

“No freaking idea” would be your probable response.

But, hey, they provided the service.

So get THEM to give you their price first even if they insist you give your price first, then, you can negotiate from there to get the BEST PRICE POSSIBLE.

He said, give me a hundred dollars, shocked at the low price I reached into my pocket.

If you liked this article, you’d love my weekly newsletter, revealing everything you need to know BEFORE you invest in Ecuador. Unsubscribe at any time:

First Name
* Email
* = Required Field

How To Find The Cheapest (And Best) Farmland In Ecuador

Deciding I was going to lease a farm lot was the easy part.

Now, how do I actually find one with a solid water source, no surprises, near me, and at a good price?

I quickly realized driving around that searching for farm land is WAY DIFFERENT than what I learned when I wrote my guide on how to find the best property deals on the coast of Ecuador.

The tactics are way different. I could be at this for MONTHS with no luck.

Forget the Internet, nothing good listed there.

No ‘for sale’ signs.

No real estate agents.

No asking at street stores or local taxis, they don’t know.

No asking of the farmers, most the people you see working the fields are just farmhands, probably hired for the day, not even from the area. Chances are they haven’t even met the farm owner of the place they’re working nor any other owners in the area.

This was going to be tough.

So, I went to the one local contact I had in the area that was already leasing land and farming himself. Told him to help me look, and I’d take care of him.

And, within a few hours he came and knocked on my door and had 4 different options to choose from.

I chose the one closest to me, and he said it had a good water source as the lot was actually right next to his and literally a Peyton Manning stone throw from my Hotel near the airport in Quito.

The lot is about 1 hectare (2.2 acres), negotiated price of $1250 per year. Before me strawberries were planted there.

So there you have it, to find the BEST deals on farmland, pick an area, go, hang out a while, make a local contact or three and have them help you look. I call them rabbits. Find yourself a local rabbit!

Now, let’s do it!

If you liked this article, you’d love my weekly newsletter, revealing everything you need to know BEFORE you invest in Ecuador. Unsubscribe at any time:

First Name
* Email
* = Required Field