The disclosure last week by Agriculture Minister Noel Holder that Guyana imports $10.9 billion in snacks (annually, we presume) speaks volumes about where we are in terms of not just consolidating an agro processing sector which, on the basis of what Minister Holder has had to say, can meaningfully redirect those significant sums of money spent on importing snack foods, but also in terms of the strictly limited success we have had getting across the ‘buy local’ message that has been preached for decades.
Probably no less revealing than the staggering size of our snack foods import bill is the product breakdown itself. According to the Minister, Guyana’s import bill for jams and jellies is somewhere in the region of $40 million whilst peanut butter imports account for $227 million and juices account for an amazing $1 billion. When account is taken of the local availability of raw materials (fruits) for the production of jams and jellies, peanut butter and juices (much of which, incidentally, is wasted on account of harvesting and marketing limitations) Guyana is best positioned within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to produce those commodities at competitive prices. The main stumbling blacks here are under-investment in plant and machinery and the historic and still prevailing sluggishness in our approach to marketing these types of products outside of the jurisdiction.
It is true that the snack foods/ agro processing sector, has, over time, made some progress in expanding both product range and product quality though, frankly, Minister Holder need hardly have said that “there is still much to be done.” Reference has already been made to the underachievement of our ‘buy local’ message, the consumer response being, or at least appearing to be, that on the whole, the snack foods and condiments that we produce locally do not match their imported counterparts in terms of quality. Here it has to be said that what is important is not what is true or otherwise but what consumers continue to believe. The perception that what we have to offer is inferior to the imported counterparts is, in large measure, the result of our marketing weaknesses and what has been a less than wholehearted response at the retail outlet level to what we have to offer.
Our local products face other handicaps too. In an era where packaging significantly enhances customer appeal and despite the forward movement that we have made in this area in recent years, we are still behind much of the Caribbean and certainly behind the major extra-regional markets where, presumably, we would wish to make some sort of meaningful impact. If our snack food range is to secure greater traction on the local market (charity, after all, begins at home) these must also begin to speak more pointedly not just to taste but to nutritional value as well. Parents of school-age children represent a large portion of that market and one suspects that where issues of nutrition and food value become stronger selling points those snacks are likely to secure greater traction on the local market. As it happens the available evidence would appear to suggest that it is the imports that appear to enjoy the greater ‘lunch kit appeal.’
One cannot, of course, stress too strongly the tremendous strides that small manufacturers have made in increasing the range of snack foods on the local market. Where, however, most of these are small operators with underdeveloped manufacturing capabilities, there is the question as to whether the volumes that are produced are sufficient to meet market demand. Frankly, the best that can be said on that score is that the small and medium scale manufacturing sector, including the snack foods sub-sector has now done more than enough to attract – beyond the efforts of the GMC’s Guyana Shop – much more support from government, our local Business Support Organizations, the retail sector and the banking sector.
Contextually, we have heard little in recent months about what we were told several months ago were bilateral discussions between the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (which has been particularly supportive of local agro processors in recent years) aimed at securing government support for the importation of plant and machinery to enable the setting up of a manufacturing facility to which our small, micro and medium-scale agro processors would have access.
It is of course no secret that despite what in many instances have been their best efforts, our local snack food producers have been unable to match their foreign counterparts, including, again, some companies on the region, in terms of spending on marketing. This is widely believed to be largely responsible for the shelf display deficit from which our local products suffer. Of course, one can argue that were all of our local outlets similarly committed to promoting local snack foods (given that they reach a certain standard, of course) then the situation would be different. Here again, the available evidence suggests that there are different levels of commitment amongst the local outlets to say nothing of an absence of reciprocity right here in the region to our openness insofar as the importation of snack foods is concerned. We have, as well, long arrived at a point where our snack foods/agro processing sub-sector must begin to benefit from a strong research and development component that would both further enhance product quality and realize greater variety in terms of the range of foods that we produce.
With small and micro businesses (of which snack foods and agro processing enterprises probably exist in the greatest numbers) not having traditionally found any great favour with the commercial banking sector in terms of borrowing/lending and given the weakness of the lobby for a shift in the banks’ posture, the shortcomings of the local snack foods industry, (packaging and labeling still being among the biggest ones) have meant that many of them have struggled to ‘make the grade’ insofar as the expectations of the contemporary supermarket culture is concerned. The reality is that unless product quality is matched by visual appeal (and there is still a long road to travel in this regard) then, frankly, in an age of exalted consumer expectations, locally produced snack foods are likely to be on a hiding to nowhere insofar as market appeal on both the local and export markets is concerned.
The Minister’s message about the high price we are paying for a still underdeveloped snack foods industry is clear. The critical question has to do with what we are going to do about it.
