A two-year project spearheaded by the Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT) with support from the Caribbean Development Bank (CBD) and the OECS Competitive Business Unit (CBU), is expected to improve the competitiveness of forty (40) of Dominica’s agro-processors in the global market.
The activities which seek to tackle almost all the elements of the creation and preparation of a product to the market, will also develop the skills and get greater rewards from the agro-processors for their products.
The project titled, “Enhancing the Competitiveness and the Sustainability of Agro-processors in Dominica,” was launched last week.
Debra Blackman, Technical Specialist for Manufacturing at the OECS CBU says that at the end of the training, it is anticipated that a cadre of Dominican agro-products will meet national and export market requirements.
“Entrepreneurs will be trained in Good Manufacturing Practices; that is a system for ensuring that products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards, which includes record keeping during manufacturing that demonstrates that all the steps required by the defined procedures and instructions were in fact taken and that the quantity and quality of the food or drug [were] as expected,” she noted.
Other areas in which the agro-processors will be trained are costing and pricing of their products, packaging and labelling requirements for the product, product development, and training attachment.
“Once all of this training is completed, we want to ensure the efforts are sustained and that we will have new manufacturers emerging. The final action will be to conduct a feasibility assessment for a multi-purpose processing facility,” Blackman said.
Minister of Trade, Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Business, and Export Development, Ian Douglas, pledged his ministry’s support and encouraged entrepreneurs to find ways around the challenges facing the manufacturing industry.
“It is indeed a challenge, particularly when we grapple with the limited resources which call for making hard decisions and thinking outside the box, innovation. To increase the availability of local agro-process products, I, therefore, call on each one of you to rise to the challenge and make a difference in the agro-processing sub-sector,” he said.
Citing what he described as the “crippled” state of manufacturers worldwide and their inability to service their clients, Douglas said manufacturers have to adapt to new measures to facilitate safe production and resilient trade.
“Let me commend all of those of you who amid the challenges, have continued to produce value-added products for consumption and more importantly for exports,” the minister stated.
General Manager of Bannis Farm Products, Naomi Bannis Simpson, is one of the participants in this project which she says offers some optimism in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GMP is a management tool to ensure process integrity and consistency. Training in STEM disciplines is also very important for agro-processors to be proficient in meeting the requirements to sell their products in different markets. Hopefully, the Bureau of Standards is able to support the agro-processing sector with the equipment and protocols needed for these aspects of agro-processing. A starting point for developing a viable agro-processing industry involves three pillars: product innovation, product standards and regulations, and process standards. Only after an effective support structure for these elements is in place on a permanent basis can the business of larger-scale manufacturing and export be considered seriously.
What are those so called agro-processors actually processing, I wonder? Sand from the beaches, boulders from the rivers, dirt from the streets and gutters of Roseau? Day in day out I hear this nonsense that adds up to nothing but propaganda for our inept government.
It would have been helpful if the article included greater detail on the types of products being processed and by how many agro-processors in each case. It would also have been useful to have some real data on the volumes produced, the markets in which they are sold, and the revenues generated by the agro-processing sector. This article could have been so much more than a report on training with 40% of the content in quotation marks!
I hope that the activities which seek to tackle “almost all” the elements of the creation and preparation of a product to the market will this time around include efficient and economical methods of production that are suited to our small island location.
My DNO Commentary “Entrepreneurial Solutions” speaks of this neglected aspect of small to medium scale manufacturing.
https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/commentary-entrepreneurial-solutions/
Why wasnt the local association that represents local manufacturers included in this initiative? Why wasnt the Dominica Manufacturers Association involved in this. these people always want to do their thing in secret then talk about wanting to help. If the government really serious about agro processing BUILD A NEW INDUSTRIAL SITE THAT MEETS THE NEEDS OF AGROPROCESSORS. Most processors working form their little kitchen on a 4 burner stove in their domentic pots and pans. NONSENSE that government doing just to say they helping. Millions and milions floating and exchanging hands daily but it not touching the ground for those that really need help. Chinese buying up and given all good land that can be made productive. Where is the ministry of agriculture in this AGRO -processing initiative? Where do they get their raw materials from? Pepper mash, coconut oil, dried seasonings, copra oil…all imported. Min of Agriculture doesnt care. those in power know nothing of what to do. clueless