Back in February of this year the Ministry of Agriculture issued a media release asserting that farmers and agro- processors would “benefit from lucrative markets this year.” This, the release stated, would be accomplished by virtue of what it said would be a “proactive approach to ensure that farmers, agro-processors and exporters are linked to the most lucrative markets.”
At the time there was no mention of just how the Ministry would go about creating those linkages, though, by September, a request to the administration to help fund participation by local agro-processors, among other categories of small businesses, in one of the usually better-attended events in the hemisphere for the marketing of products, including agro-produce from the Caribbean and the Americas, in Florida, was turned down by the Ministry of Business. That decision, would have, to say the least, raised questions about the undertaking given by government back in February.
That episode, however, passed without much fuss though some of the agro-processors who were looking forward to participating in the Florida event wondered aloud (in conversations with this newspaper) about the dichotomy between the government’s turning down of the subsidy request and its persistent ‘talking up’ of the role of agro-processing in the country’s economy. All of this, we need to remind ourselves, followed the aforementioned February 2022 government release on “lucrative markets this year.”
Across political administrations, government’s posture on the issue of better positioning agro-processing to play a more central role in the country’s economy have been constrained by what appears to be a less than adequate understanding of the benefits that agro-processing can bring to the wider agricultural sector, the unemployed, and to the country’s economy as a whole. As has been proven to be the case in the instances of other countries with economies significantly more developed than our own, agro-processing, apart from boosting those countries’ GDP through the provision of new, marketable processed products have, as well, provided income and employment particularly in rural areas through strong backward linkages, created an additional export option, provided training in new skills for unskilled persons, stimulated agricultural production by creating new markets for agricultural products, and provided a strong incentive for farmers to run more efficient, more productive operations.
Here it should be said that there are several countries in the hemisphere that have invested heavily in their respective agro-processing sectors with marked success. This has not been the case in Guyana where, manifestly, and over a number of years, successive political administrations have failed to walk the talk where support for the agro-processing sector is concerned.
To the contrary it would be altogether fair to say that the growth of the agro-processing sector in Guyana, up to this time, has been, overwhelmingly, a function of the hard work of the agro-processors themselves, many of them pursuing business at a subsistence or near subsistence level and raising their game incrementally with only limited support from sources outside of their own ingenuity and hard work.
Whatever noises the Ministry of Agriculture has ceaselessly made to the contrary, over the years, there continues to be a question mark hanging over the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC), in terms of its ability to effectively execute what we understand to be one of its designated responsibilities, that is, overseeing and presumably giving some sort of direction and impetus to aspects of the operations of the agro-processing sector. As we understand it, the GMC, apart from its role in supporting the marketing of local agro-produce both locally and abroad, is also tasked with providing a measure of guidance in areas of product presentation, including aspects of packaging and labelling as well as serving as a link between the agro- processors and the local distribution outlets.
The evidence that the GMC has been tackling these tasks with anything resembling marked success is not readily apparent. That may well not be the agency’s fault, since, as far as the Stabroek Business is aware, whether it possesses the competencies necessary for the effective execution of what are, in fact, weighty responsibilities, is a question that up to this time, has not been furnished with a persuasive answer. To go further, that question must be answered, and conclusively, if the GMC is to meet, what increasingly appears to be, the demands of the agro-processing sector.
Here it should be said that while GMC’s seeming active involvement in the recent (and apparently ongoing) commissioning of state-funded agro-processing operations in various parts of the country is to be noted, contextually, it is apposite to wonder aloud as to whether we are going to benefit from periodic updates from the GMC regarding the extent to which these high-investment facilities are ‘making the difference’ that they are designed to make.
What is needed if the country’s agro-processing sector is to improve its showing on the domestic market as well as make stronger inroads into the regional and international markets, is a scaled up GMC that possesses the kind of clout that Jamaica’s JAMPRO has (along with the attendant human resources, of course) to plan and execute a regime for both supporting the growth of the agro-processing sector at the level of providing relevant direction to local agro-processors, as well as planning and executing a strategy that would cause a reformed GMC to break free of the constricting ties which it currently has with the Ministry of Agriculture which, in itself, often appears to have no clear understanding of the role that the GMC can and should play in the growth of the agro- processing sector. Historically, the GMC has never really had the clout (or the requisite quota of specialized skills) with which to do so.
But that is not all. Should the GMC not, as the government’s perceived ‘ramrod’ for the local and external promotion of the agro-processing sector, be seen to be playing a far more assertive role in the creation of linkages with other important sectors of the economy, like the wholesale and retail sectors, both here and in the wider region, particularly at a time when there are region-wide food security concerns?
To go further, should the GMC not be accorded a much higher international profile (JAMPRO again comes to mind here) to enable it to help pry open new marketing openings for our agro-produce through the regional tourism industry which can be probed and hopefully exploited for more market potential? These initiatives can only be derived from institutional vision and the GMC appears at this time, to be far too bureaucratically muscle-bound to assume what is, in effect, a visionary role. Now much more confident in its spending power than it had previously been, the Ministry of Agriculture would appear to have embarked on a spending blitz, establishing agro-processing facilities across the regions, a decidedly positive development though, here again, whether the GMC, as presently structured and technically equipped, has the capacity to properly oversee the work of the new agro processing facilities, is a matter that requires careful consideration.
