A Guyanese couple who migrated to the United States several years ago have been exploiting the fruits of that country’s agriculture sector and the duo aims to market products to these shores in the near future.
Former residents of the East Bank Demerara, Nateram and Rowena Roopchand, who migrated to the USA some 18 years ago, are hoping to have their products, mainly processed produce, marketed here in Guyana and have already embarked on marketing their bottled and labelled products in various parts of the US, including New York.
The couple, parents to four children, migrated from these shores and settled in Long Island, New York where they lived for over 14 years, before moving to Virginia, Rowena Roopchand told Stabroek News recently.
During their time in New York, Rowena said, their church’s pastor, his family, and some of their friends moved to Appomattox, Virginia.
Not long after, Nate (as her husband is fondly called) expressed a desire to move to Virginia since according to his wife, it reminded him of life back home in Guyana. After frequent trips to the area, the couple decided to move to Virginia.
“Each visit increased our desire to settle there because of the kinship we had with our friends,” said Rowena and the country charm as well as the agricultural way of life added to their desire to relocate.
“All of these things kept rekindling our memories of Guyana and the farm life we grew up with there and we also had a strong desire to raise our children on a farm, complete with a few goats, sheep, cows, rabbits, chickens, even a few ducks!”
She said they wanted to grow their own vegetables and fruits just as they did back home in Guyana and “after several years, much prayer, and many visits, God provided the opportunity for us to move and we wasted no time,” she added.
The farm
The Roopchands settled on their little farm and started realizing their dream on a full time basis, later naming the farm after their first son, Joshua. The farm is approximately 6 acres in size; about half of an acre is where the family’s home is based and they live there with their four children.
They plan to extend the size of the farm and at present they plant vegetables such as carrots, boulanger, pumpkins, ochroes and sweet pepper to name a few and these are marketed in the Appomattox area.
The farm utilizes recent forms of technology and according to Rowena, as time progresses the family will expand the farm to be the source of produce and packaged and bottled products, to be recognized not only in the United States but worldwide.
As regards livestock, the family manages dozens of animals including goats, sheep, rabbits, chickens (various types) and as recent as last week they were busy finalizing an order of some 2,000 ducks.
These are reared for the family’s own consumption and resale; the meat birds are also marketed in the area on a small scale.
According to Rowena, while they are rearing livestock and cultivating plants simultaneously on the farm, they are also focusing on promoting packaged food items.
She said the farm was financed from money they have saved over the years, hence it began on a small scale. She said that when they got married, they worked long-hour jobs; at one time her husband worked two jobs.
“‘I think the financial model is working hard and not [squandering], living within our means, but still being happy and enjoying life,” she said when asked about the management of the farm and she added, “taking loans always put stress on families with rigid monthly payments and high interest, but sometimes one has no choice but to go down that road.”
The Roopchands are a deeply religious family and Rowena stated, “We are now fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives living on our farm, home schooling our precious children, and bringing them up in the care and nurture of the Lord as well as fulfilling the goal of raising them on a farm.
They are now learning to respect and enjoy God’s creation and everyone participates in the chores here. Farming is not an easy lifestyle but it gives us all the opportunity to teach, learn, and be together as a family.”
The family’s farm began to flourish during the start-up stage and each year their harvest produced vegetables in abundance and the couple would share the surplus with neighbours, friends, even the local Chinese restaurant owner.
Joshua’s hot sauce
The unique mix of Guyanese culture inspired their home-made hot sauce and chutney, family recipes which have been handed down for several generations.
The Roopchands said they have always made the unique blend of hot sauces for their own consumption and began bottling and storing same for occasions such as visits by friends and relatives from New York.
Rowena said the family, “received such positive feedback about our sauces that we started researching existing [hot] sauces.”
She said they could not find a hot sauce that satisfied their taste and thought, “why not make and sell our own sauce?”
She said the idea led them down the path of producing and marketing their first product, Joshua’s Hot Sauce a product which is creating a buzz in Virginia and parts of New York.
“Our product has reached international standards by having Universal Product Code (barcode) and Nutrition fact on the label,” she said. The slogan, Virginia’s Finest, which the product carries, was tested with six other slogans and was found to be the most preferred.
According to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), the slogan suggests quality, freshness and selection. And with the high quality and standards upheld by Virginia Finest, and a review panel, Joshua’s Hot Sauce was granted approval
Guyanese background
As regards their background here in Guyana, Rowena told Stabroek News that her husband once worked in the interior as a gold miner, and when work was unavailable there, he would work as a carpenter. “I was a teacher at the Soesdyke Primary School for 5 plus years; a job I really enjoyed. I love children and had some happy bunches during my time as a teacher,” she added.
She said she and her husband, “are from backgrounds where our parents and grandparents were farmers, and always had a kitchen garden on our property and as children had to tend it as chores.”
