KENYA · GUIDE 0011 · EDITION 4.2
French bean growing - Pricing, break-even and cash flow
Price an accepted unit, not an activity title
Start with this sale unit: accepted kilogram.
Select a domestic kitchen or trader whose French bean specification you can inspect directly, and define a separate outlet for beans outside that preferred grade.
A quotation needs the accepted quantity or scope, exclusions, completion point, delivery arrangement and payment schedule. Without that specification, two apparently similar prices may pay for different work.
Build the direct-cost sheet
- seed
- picking labour
- grade-out loss
Allocate picking and hand-sorting time by accepted grade, since a good price for selected beans can be outweighed by extensive work on rejected pods.
| Calculation | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Variable cost per accepted unit | Direct inputs, labour, delivery and measured losses divided by accepted units. |
| Contribution per unit | Agreed selling price minus variable cost per unit. |
| Period operating surplus | Contribution from units sold minus fixed overhead for the same period. |
| Break-even units | Fixed overhead divided by positive contribution, rounded up. |
Count rejected output, unsold stock and correction time. Keep fixed overhead in a consistent period; a daily contribution cannot be compared directly with a monthly overhead figure. If contribution is zero or negative, extra sales do not establish a workable break-even point.
Reconcile the cash separately
A customer's unpaid balance cannot pay today's supplier bill. List actual collections, advance payments, supplier deadlines, refunds and recurring bills by date. Separate refundable deposits and money held for an uncompleted commitment from funds freely available for expansion.
The plan fails when local sales assumptions borrow premium specifications or prices from unfamiliar export channels that the grower has neither access nor acceptance for.
Test a weaker outcome
Recalculate with fewer accepted units, a delayed customer collection or a higher input quotation. Change one assumption at a time to see which constraint matters. Use the actual pilot record: Keep photographs of the agreed pod examples and record accepted weight, rejected reasons, labour time and the price actually received for each grade sold locally.
Do not interpret the invented financial teaching exercise in the complete manuscript as a market price or predicted income. Replace its assumptions before using it for a real decision. The public planning tool can help with arithmetic; it does not validate the inputs.