-standards consultant
Higher standards of packaging and labeling can significantly increase the volume of Guyana’s agro-processed and fresh foods to developed countries, according to Food Processing Engineer and Quality Management Specialist Ronald Noble.
“I cannot give you a percentage in terms of loss of export earnings but what I can tell you is that those losses are significant,” Noble told Stabroek Business in an interview on Tuesday. “There is reluctance on the part of agro-processors as well as producers to invest in proper packaging not realizing what their losses could be as a result of this,” he said.
Noble, who is one of two consultants recruited by the Canadian Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) to conduct a series of workshops with local manufacturers and exporters, said that the export potential of some “high quality products produced in Guyana” had been affected by sub-standard packaging and labeling. “We lose more in fresh products than in agro-processed products. Our agro-processing industry is still in an embryonic stage. We lose a lot more in fresh produce. There are even situations in which our products are packed in boxes and exported to the Caribbean and some of that same product is re-packaged and sent further afield. There are some concrete situations in which this has been observed,” he said. He added that Guyana can improve its existing packaging regime even with the current low level of resources. “The attitude of the processor or the fresh food producer must be such that they want to make more money and that they want to improve their standards. If they do not adopt that attitude then it makes no sense,” he explained.
According to Noble, while there have been some worthwhile packaging initiatives by individual exporters, the ideal approach would be for stakeholders to address the issue collectively. For a country as small as Guyana, it is advisable that we come together as associations or groups and we try to produce one standard size of packaging under one brand name to make it more cost-effective. This has been recommended for many developing countries because we are quite small in terms of volumes of exports to developed countries. This is one of the areas that we will be looking at,” he said. “The whole purpose behind this initiative is to maximize our exports. The West Indian Diaspora in Canada, for example, is longing for quite a few of our products. But because we are unable to meet the minimum international standard for packaging we are unable to export certain unique indigenous products to Canada. TFO is willing to assist all the way but the assistance will only come if persons are willing to respond,” he added.
The workshops will also serve as an assessment forum to determine product quality ahead of a November trade fair in Canada. “We propose to undertake an assessment of the products and packaging of the persons participating in our workshops in order to determine those persons who might be eligible to be part of that trade mission,” Noble said. He also suggested that local producers wishing to take advantage of major external markets must also focus on “green packaging,” which is emphasized in countries like Canada. “The market is much more accommodating of paper board and carton packaging which could easily be done here. In Guyana, there are limited packaging facilities available so one of the things which we have done is to develop a sourcing guide for packaging equipment as well as material,” he explained.
Asked about the feasibility of increasing the capacity currently offered by Caribbean Container Inc. (CCI), Noble said that he believed that expansion of local capacity would have to be determined by the cost of the investment as against the size of the local market. He said, however, that a TFO consultant who had visited Guyana some time ago had identified “some simple things” that CCL might do to bring aboard other types of packaging that would be welcome among some agro-processors.
The TFO has been partnering with various other agencies, including the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (New GMC), the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) and IICA, to stage a series of Workshops on various aspects of packaging, labeling and presentation to meet international market standards. “Our goal at the moment is to bring more awareness to agro and fresh fruit people of the importance of packaging and the laws and regulations involved so that they can meet in groups and as individuals and make decisions for themselves,” Noble said.
The first workshop was held at the Pegasus Hotel from April 19 to April 23 and according to Noble the forum, which dealt with packaging for export, was designed principally to help packers in the process of procuring packaging material mainly from foreign sources. The workshop also dealt with packaging regulations as well as with regulatory requirements.
On October 5, a fresh produce packaging and handling workshop will be held in Anna Regina with a similar forum on October 12 at Parika. From October 19 to October 20, a third Workshop will be staged in Berbice. “These workshops will cover areas such as packaging and handling and will also deal with post-harvest handling which is one the basic problems in Guyana,” according to Noble. The New GMC is to identify participants for the workshops.
Setting aside the work being done by the TFO and other stakeholders to raise the standard of packaging and labeling in the export sector, Noble also said that the local producers themselves were now becoming aware of the need to raise standards if they are to be competitive on the international market. “Businessmen don’t like losing money and once they realize that their products might become unsalable it is natural that they would become concerned,” he noted.