Owners of small agro processing commercial ventures who participated in the November 16-19 GUYEXPO event at the Sophia Exhibition have told the Stabroek Business that they frequently “miss out” on publicly advertised opportunities to benefit from initiatives that can advance their businesses on account of their preoccupation with ‘making a living’ and their detachment from channels that connect them with those opportunities. One agro-processor from the East Coast Demerara told the Stabroek Business that “family and work” precludes her from accessing information that would afford her opportunities to take advantage of information that would help her grow her business. She said that more than two years ago a relative had told her about a project being run by government under which government was funding a scheme designed to help farmers and agro-processors access markets for their products. She added, however, that she was unable to secure the information that would help her to benefit from the initiative.
Stabroek Business had seen a February 2021 news item emanating from the Ministry of Agriculture announcing that government was preparing to invest over $200 million “to develop a robust marketing strategy to ensure farmers and agro-processors across the nation are linked to the most profitable markets both locally and internationally.” Meanwhile, another exhibitor at this year’s GUYEXPO told the Stabroek Business that while she felt that her ‘sauces’ were likely to “get markets” in the Caribbean, she had been unable, at the time when preparations were being made for the most recent Barbados Agro Fest, to finance the undertaking. She told the Stabroek Business that she was sufficiently confident in the condiments she manufactured to run the risk of taking a loan to attend a marketing event in the Caribbean. Another participant in this year’s GUYEXPO event told the Stabroek Business that she too would find it costly to “chase after” markets in the Caribbean. Holding up a jar of her Table Sauce for the reporter to get “a close look” she declared that it had taken “half my life” (she is twenty years old) and was prepared to place it on the best dining tables in the country.
A third exhibitor who told the Stabroek that she had, up until recently, been residing at Bachelor’s Adventure, was hoping that government could help in the marketing of agro-processed produce by sponsoring public tasting competitions in which the ‘tasters’ are the judges and where the prizes offered should be various forms of state investments in the enterprises of the winners. The prizes, she said, should be confined to equipment associated with their production pursuits as well as funded trips to the Caribbean and elsewhere as a means of expanding the winners’ markets. Another woman, who resides on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway told the Stabroek Business that sales of her sauces manufactured from local fruits and vegetables had increased significantly on account of the enhanced ‘eating out’ habits of Guyanese. She told this newspaper, however, that she believed that high packaging and labeling limitations had long placed constraints to ‘up market’ local restaurants and Caribbean markets. She told the Stabroek Business, however, that she had recently “stepped up” her product presentation and that she was beginning to see the difference. Participating in GUYEXO had been a “tryout.”
