Dear Editor,
I support Vijay Singh’s argument that “Successful exporting of fruits and vegetables demands a lot of organization (SN Nov 28th). Had Dr. Jagan been alive, he would have done everything to assist farmers and fishermen to get their produce to North American and Caribbean markets. Agriculture and fishing hold great potential for the economy but there needs to be a co-ordinated programme among the farmers and fishermen, perhaps assisted by the Ministries of Trade, Agriculture and Aviation, to package their products to make it overseas.
Markets are available overseas as there is a shortage of traditional tropical vegetables in New York and Toronto and in several of the islands. But getting the products there has been a serious challenge for producers. Assistance from the aviation sector in Guyana can provide an opportunity to our producers to earn a lot of money and at the same time help with job creation.
Had Dr. Jagan been alive, he would have put in place the necessary infrastructure to promote agri exports. Sometime in 1991, during a newspaper interview, the late Dr. Jagan laid out plans to assist farmers with organization and transportation of cash agro-crops to the Caribbean, New York and Toronto. It pained Dr. Jagan that a lot of farm products were lost to spoilage and he promised that should he form the government an enhanced Ministry of Trade along with the now defunct Guyana Airways would help farmers to get their products to the North American markets. That did not happen because of the recurring problems with Guyana Airways. The private sector took the initiative in exporting products to markets where large numbers of Guyanese are settled and the exporters in Guyana as well as the importers in North America have seen their businesses flourish (on a U.S multi-million dollar scale), especially for dry goods. But they have not been able to meet the demands for fresh vegetables and fruits because of air transport. So Guyanese store owners turn to selling agri-products from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. And back in Guyana, there is no shortage of produce with farmers perennially complaining about the lack of internal markets for their products.
There is need for an efficient system of air transport of perishable goods from Guyana. The government should seek to work out an arrangement with the airlines to assist the farmers to get their products to North America and the neighbouring islands. This may be a difficult exercise given that the airlines are foreign and privately owned. But since one of the airlines is owned by Guyanese and is designated as “a Guyana carrier”, it may be sympathetic in assisting Guyanese farmers to get their products to available markets at a reasonable price. Travel Span plies the Guyana-Trinidad and Guyana-NY routes with plans to expand to Toronto soon. On behalf of the farmers, the government should approach Travel Span on how the airline can help them.
In the meantime, I believe it would serve the country well if the Ministries of Trade and Agriculture were to put in place an infrastructure that would advise farmers on organizing their produce for exports. I should note that Japan established “regimes” in its Ministry of Trade and Investment to promote exports. Guyana should not be bashful about doing the same.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram