Not by accident our editorial this week addresses the subject of agro processing. Specifically, it seeks to draw attention to what we believe are the considerable strides that the sector has made, some of the agencies which, in our view, must take credit to the enhanced profile that the sector now enjoys and some of the initiatives that still remain to be taken to further enhance the growth of the sector.
We begin with the role of the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) whose collaborative work with the Ministry of Business and other state and non-state agencies to thrice stage the UNCAPPED event did more than anything else in our memory to enhance the profile of the sector and raise the self-esteem of the mostly female agro processors who were afforded an unprecedented opportunity to place their products on a big local stage.
Significantly, the advent of the UNCAPPED event coincided with a marked improvement in the quality of product presentation, not least labelling and packaging, circumstances which better positioned products to secure access to local markets.
Then there was the role of the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC), more specifically The Guyana Shop, which entity has played an invaluable part in raising the profile of local agro produce by providing a service through which local produce is displayed and sold. The insistence of The Guyana Shop on food safety, certification and standards criteria as prerequisites for being placed on its shelves, ensures that manufacturers wishing to utilize the service must comply with the laid down standards. Those services aside, agro produce also benefits from public Market Day exposure provided by the GMC’s open air markets.
The Guyana School of Agriculture, meanwhile, has been offering local agro processors institutionalized training in the discipline of Food Processing, providing courses that include Food Chemistry, Food Quality Standards, Principles of Food Safety, Sanitation and Environment, Nutrition and Food Packaging. One of the requirements of the course is that the students complete a project that involves the production of an agro processed commodity utilizing local produce, the outcome of which helps determine their overall evaluation.
The agencies that we have featured in our coverage of the agro processing sub-sector are the Guyana School of Agriculture, the Guyana Marketing Corporation’s Guyana Shop and the GMSA which, in their separate ways, have rendered significant service to the sector. Two of these have done much for product promotion.
Finally, there is the Small Business Bureau (SBB) which has not only provided timely grants to small agro processors but has also helped in the financing of small business representation at international events, some of which have manifested modest markets.
These contributions do not gainsay the fact that the agro processing sector is yet to maximize its potential. State investment in equipment and machinery that would render agro processing operations more efficient and increase production levels is yet to materialize in a significant way and not nearly enough effort or investment has, up until now, gone into external marketing. Raw material production challenges point to what continues to be a less than synchronized relationship between farmers and agro processors. But that is not all. Having invested heavily in recent years in product presentation, particularly labeling and packaging, some manufacturers are discovering the production costs can sometimes match if not exceed what the market is prepared to pay for the product.
The evidence of agro processing having grown in recent years is plain for all to see through local fairs and exhibitions though these products are still to make a notable impact on local supermarket shelves. That, it seems is a work in progress, as is the discourse between the manufacturing sector and government on the issue of pouring more resources into the sector. There is, however, a general agreement in the business community that agro processing has made its own strong case for a greater measure of support from the state, local business support organizations, local food outlets and the Guyana market. And the work of the GMSA, The Guyana Shop, the Guyana School of Agriculture and the Small Business Bureau have stood out like beacons of impetus towards further growth of the sector.
