Back in March the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) staged a relatively low-key event at its Parika agro-processing facility to mark the ‘birth’ of Hana, its new ‘lightly salted’ packaged plantain chip. For consumers, the significance of the event reposed in the fact that a branded version of a commodity that is hugely popular among in Guyana was finally emerging to sit on supermarket shelves – and at other outlets, we hope – alongside the imported brands that have established their own presence in our local outlets.
While the full extent of the availability of the new plantain chip is not yet known, the Stabroek Business has learnt that it has indeed been placed on the local market insofar as it can be found in the various Bounty outlets at Kitty, Regent Street, and Grove. Presumably, much wider distribution plans are in the making.
In circumstances where efforts to create a robust home market for locally produced goods is desirable, the GMC says that it is working with farmers in Region Three to ensure that supplies of plantains are sufficient to ensure that adequate supplies of the product are available on the market. Here, we note the likely emerging possibility of an expanded market for plantains.
Significantly, the GMC’s disclosure regarding the launch of Hana coincides with recent calls that have been made by a local businessman and which have been published in the Stabroek Business regarding the need for conditions to be created in which locally produced goods, including food products, can enjoy a higher profile on the local market. It is no secret that the ‘buy local’ discourse has been continually plagued by concerns relating to product quality and availability, consistency and reliability of supplies, considerations which, we expect, will not escape the GMC if Hana is to make a mark.
The GMC has assured us that it is working to have Hana distributed at local Coss Cutters and DSL outlets though it has not afforded us a time line for the product’s appearance in these outlets.
Plantain chips have long been a favoured local snack food, particularly popular with children, so it would be interesting to see the response if Hana were to find its way into the local school-vending ‘chain’ and hold its own there. Then, we believe, it would be going places.
The retail price, we are told, is the small matter of $140.
