The Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) last Friday launched what it said was the country’s first agri-business incubator, which will roll out a suite of services aimed at better positioning the corporation to enhance the quality of the output of the agriculture and agro-processing sectors.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha officiated at the commissioning ceremony for the new incubator at the GMC’s new headquarters in the GuySuco compound at LBI, East Coast Demerara. Information that has been made publicly available listed a number of undertakings the incubator will be offering, which will include the design and printing of product labels, the generation of barcodes and nutrition facts for display on product packaging, the provision of assistance to product manufacturers with the completion of business registration forms. Additionally, the GMC said, the incubator will provide assistance to producers in the completion of Government Analyst Food and Drugs Department forms as well as with expediting issues relating to US Food and Drug Administration.
Beyond that, the GMC also said, its one-stop-shop “will also provide advice on the processing and packaging facilities requirements in keeping with standards accepted globally.”
The Stabroek Business has been unable to secure a timeline for the commencement of these services which, when implemented, will mark a heightened level of cooperation among key agencies responsible for facilitating the work of two critical sectors of the economy.
A Department of Public Information release on last Friday’s commissioning ceremony quoted Mustapha as saying that the launch of the new incubator comes in the wake of the passage of a period of five years, prior to August 2020, during which “sectors like the agriculture sector were neglected.” The minister is reported as saying that during this period no effort was made to modernize the agriculture sector.
The release also quoted him as saying that investments like the new incubator “will enhance not only the country’s development but also our country’s posi-tion in taking its rightful place as an agriculture powerhouse in the region.”
He added that efforts are currently being made to reorganize, refocus and restructure the GMC in order to stimulate the production of more high-quality, value-added products for both domestic production and export.
The GMC’s launch of its agri-business incubator comes in the wake of official undertakings to establish support facilities in regions across the country to provide support for the pursuits of farmers and agro-processors.
