Farmers’ Market taken to Albion by Agri Ministry

On Sunday the Agriculture Ministry hosted its second Farmers’ Market Day at the Albion Estate
Road in Region Six. The event saw scores of consumers turning out to purchase fresh
commodities at affordable prices. The ministry said that the farmers’ market is one aspect of
government’s efforts to bring down food prices.
It also allowed farmers to market a wide variety of produce including vegetables, seedlings, meat
and livestock. The initiative also it gives them the opportunity to showcase and sell their
packaged products that were manufactured in Guyana. It was noted that in February, a farmers’
market was held at the Lusignan tarmac, East Coast Demerara with similar success.
General Manager for ‘Only Coconuts’, Leslie Ramlall, in an invited comment said the market
day is a necessary initiative as the country continues to develop.  “It’s really good, and not only
for businesses like ours, but also to educate customers, educate citizens of Guyana. Guyana is
moving and for us to be moving forward we have to be competitive,” Ramlall stressed.

The ‘Only Coconuts’ GM said Guyanese should support farmers and be proud of local products.
He also reiterated the importance of packaging when promoting products for local and
international markets. “Packaging plays a very essential role in the promotion of your product, as
well as being able to entice customers to your products…,” Ramlall stressed. “So packaging is
really important, so I would encourage any business man it’s not only about producing your
products, but to ensure that whatever you’re producing is of that standard,” he added.
It was pointed out that ‘Only Coconut’ is the largest coconut processing facility in the Caribbean,
with all their products being organic. Some products exhibited at the market day included
coconut flour, coconut oil, coconut chips, and desiccated coconut, among others. Dixie Jorden,
owner of Dixie’s Punch De Crème, said the market will allow for businesses to reach consumers
they were unable to reach. “I think it’s an excellent idea…for people like me to get my product
to people that I wouldn’t normally reach on my own, so I think this is an awesome initiative that
we have here and I really think they should keep continue doing it,” Jorden said.
In some media related interviews with some customers, they said they were very satisfied with
the initiative. “I saw a wide variety of items and they’re all interesting…and I hope that they can
have this another time very soon, it’s good, very good prices you know and you can make a good
turn over and so on,” Nikita Lounk said.
Kevin Paul, another consumer, lauded the government for the initiative, noting that it presented
an opportunity for job creation for youths. “We thankful for the country produce we own
products that is very good so that you could create a lot of jobs and things for the younger ones
in we own country…,” Paul disclosed. He continued, “And this hay what they [government] do
for the public and the country is very good and we thankful for it.”
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, said the ministry plans to host the event at
least once every month and in all regions across Guyana. “I’m hoping that in each region in this
country we can at least have these market once monthly and this is a tremendous success here in

Region Six…,” Mustapha said. He added, “So, farmers and consumers are calling that they want
these markets to be held more regularly, so what we are doing now as I said we’ll be going to
other regions and at the end of the first pilot exercise we’ll be looking to group farmers so that
they can go to the different markets.”
Mustapha also said that the market will enhance Guyana’s agro-processing facilities and allow
agro-processors more market for their produce. “We are putting a lot of emphasis on value-added
products; we are building a number of agro-processing facilities around the country…so this here
will enhance our agro-processing facilities,” he added. The minister reiterated that Guyana has a
future in agriculture production. He added that within the next two to three years the country will
be the “agriculture power house” in the region.