We met Marcia Gonsalves last Friday at a forum on agro-processing at the International Conference Centre organized by the Guyana Marketing Corporation. She was one of probably a dozen or so exhibitors who had mounted product displays in the foyer of the Conference Centre. Agro processing is still to make a really meaningful footprint on the Guyana economy. The sector is almost entirely dominated by small operators and there are numerous obstacles to their growth.
Given the rarity of such opportunities, last Friday’s event could have been more interactive. Stabroek Business had been assured that the event would allow for meaningful exchanges amongst the stakeholders in the sector. As it turned out there were far too many lengthy presentations and the setting did not allow for the sorts of exchanges which one felt could have yielded a great deal in the way of fruitful outcomes.
The really interesting exchanges took place during the breaks, in the corridors and the foyer where the real discussions were ensuing on issues like the high cost of electricity, access to financing, reticence among commercial banks about ‘doing business’ with small agro processors and the
