Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy has lauded the restructuring and reopening of the Guyana Shop, which provides a market for local produce and products as well as other key services needed to add value to them to compete on the local market and for export.
Commissioning the shop, which was rebuilt at the same Robb and Alexander street location where the old Guyana Marketing Cor-poration once stood, Ramsammy expressed pleasure at being the first customer. He noted that the shop stocked goods from the Mangrove Group from Victoria, the Pomeroon Women’s group and the Guyana School of Agriculture. “…You will find the proud products of more than 50 Guyanese agro-processing companies,” Ramsammy said, in his address at the official opening of the Guyana Shop on Thursday.
According to a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA), noting that the shop was commissioned during Agriculture Month, the minister said it encapsulates government’s relentless efforts to ensure food security and to provide a place for local farmers and producers to add value to their goods and boost their earnings.
Each agro-processor who stocks produce or products at the Guyana Shop is a certified producer by the Food and Drug Analyst Department, the minister said. He also pointed out that the GMC is mandated to work with small agro-processors in groups as the costs for a single agro-producer to invest might be prohibitive. The minister encouraged agro-processors interested in selling through the GMC to register as the agency is willing to work with them to overcome their challenges.
“The Guyana Shop is about value added… it is about ensuring our farmers and our entrepreneurs get together to add value to that Guyana product and, not just for Guyana to be known as a producer of raw materials,” Ramsammy said.
Today, Guyana aims to market itself as a country that produces nutritious nigh quality value-added products, he said.
At the opening ceremony, the minister said more than 400 products were stocked on the shelves of the GMC from more than 50 producers from across the country. “…from Region 1 to the Corentyne…we have jams and juices, snacks, seasonings, varieties of pepper sauce and other sauces and nutritious types of drinks…this is the coming alive of our people’s visions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture Alli Baksh observed that small businesses, entrepreneurs and farmers all need to be productive for the industry to survive. While the process is gradual, he opined that much more focus needs to be put into agriculture education and security.
In his address, Chairman of GMC Board of Directors Paul Cheong said that the Guyana Shop will continue to work with manufacturers to help improve packaging, labelling and the quality of goods as it seeks to sell them on the local, regional and international markets.
“The quality of goods manufactured in Guyana… has improved considerably over the last few years,” Cheong said, while acknowledging that there are still some manufacturers who must enhance the quality, standard and presentation of their products. “Consumers and the markets are looking for an improved quality… so we have to work for continuous improvement in our quality and standards…the Guyana Shop stands ready to assist where necessary,” he said.
In this light, President of the Guyana Agro-Processors Association, Ramanand Prashad, said the association aims to bring small, medium and micro enterprises in manufacturing and production into a group that can be nurtured and promoted. “Guyana has always had a quality product… our main problem was packaging… our purpose here is to develop and maintain food security, standardisation and to improve the quality, utilising the abundance of fruits and vegetables available in Guyana,” Prashad said.
According to GMC General Manager Nizam Hassan during the mid-1990s the agency advanced its marketing services to local stakeholders, as the opening up of the economy saw an influx of imported products. “A decision was taken by the GMC then to restart an operation in which it must be able to sell all of its products or find opportunities for its products… as the imported products were coming in, the locally manufactured products were not being singled out for improvements,” he said.
Hassan explained that over the years, the GMC had worked with local manufacturers, providing the services of distribution and thereafter, working to enhance the presentation, packaging and quality of the product.
The agency has since evolved and now manages two fresh fruit packaging plants used by farmers and exporters; and it has developed its marketing information centre to a scale where it now offers advisory services and agri-business development services. The GMC also has a brokerage unit and is involved in monitoring crop production.
