The Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) is hoping to stage its first ever major national agro-processors exhibition during the first quarter of this year, which General Manager Nizam Hassan says is intended to bring producers, traders and consumers together in an arrangement which, hopefully, would move the sector forward.
Hassan told Stabroek Business that the idea of a major event to place the spotlight on the work of the local agro-processing sector was intended to facilitate a “step up” from the customary “table top events,” which he said were important but limited.
A feature of the GMC’s product-promotion exercises has been the staging of modest ‘tent events’ outside its Robb and Alexander streets headquarters and occasional street fairs. Hassan said that while there were also opportunities to showcase agro-products during the annual GuyExpo event he believed a point had now been reached where there was a need to place a bigger spotlight on the manufacturing sector.
He said the work of the GMC in providing technical and production promotion support for producers had better positioned the entity to assess the progress of the sector. He said there continued to be various clear and obvious challenges to the growth of the sector, including financing difficulties that placed restraints on product promotion, packaging and labelling. Hassan said the GMC’s Guyana Shop continued to serve as a display and marketing centre for locally produced goods. While there were instances in which packaging might not be of a particularly high standard, the GMC was prepared to provide encouragement in instances where there was evidence the producers were seeking to raise their standards.
And according to Hassan the GMC’s plans for this year include the expansion of the Guyana Shop in order to provide an enhanced service for local producers. He said that the decision to expand the service was a reflection of the volume of entrepreneurial activity that was taking place in the agro-processing sector. Though he stressed that an equally important focus of the agency would be on supporting initiatives to raise product quality through emphasis on approaches to marketing that would make locally produced products more competitive on the international market. He said that while all of the GMC’s services were not “at the same level” the entity would be making deliberate efforts during this year to stage more promotional events and to extend the Guyana Shop’s marketing to various other regions of the country.
The GMC, meanwhile, is seeking to provide producers with various forms of agri-business support utilizing its internal expertise. Hassan said that two of its officers, Cuban-trained Industrial Engineer Martin Poon and Marketing and Agri business-trained officer Ida Sealy-Adams were involved in supporting product development among producers in areas across the country. “Part of what they do is to go to locations and make observations after which a determination is made as to how we can work with the particular producer. Of course a great deal depends on whether an understanding is reached that we can work with the particular manufacturer,” Hassan said.
