A Bank That Lends Goats

In Korawan, a remote area of India, there's a bank that allows people to deposit goats as savings, or borrow goats on credit. Local coordinator Subedar Singh explained how it works:

"Wives of these people help them in crushing stones and breed two-three goats for additional income," Singh said.

"Though the area is best suited for goat breeding, no effort was made to establish it as a full fledged business activity," he said.

"We provide goats to women having interest in taking up breeding as a full-time activity as loan. When a goat gives birth to kids, generally two to three in numbers, one of them is deposited with the bank again," Prema explained.

Goats in the bank are medically examined every week.

"In case a goat dies, then it is either replaced from the market or from the bank depending upon the availability," Prema said.

Link via J-Walk Blog | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Pete Markham used under Creative Commons license

This actually sounds like a really freaking awesome idea, especially as a 1-for-1 type program.

I wanna see what happens if it turns into a more commercial organization...could they charge interest? Borrow 4 does, let them have kids, but when you repay, you have to add a goat? It could be like a stock market investment! Does twin a good deal of the time, but not always...you could end up with a bunch of single births or infertility and have a (contextually) pretty bad ROI...or you could have all your does twin!