Businessman has plan to transform ‘poor man food’- Breadfruit

By Sheria Brathwaite

The lack of funding and expansion have been the main drivers in the underdevelopment of the breadfruit industry. However, one businessman has plans to transform the sector and introduce state-of-the-art facilities, which would give the local “poor man’s food” added value.

Once everything goes according to plan, Barbados would have the capacity to export specialty cuts and various products such as breadfruit crisps, chips and flour.

In an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY the owner of Holder’s Foods and Exports Shawn Holder said that thanks to financing from CIBC First Caribbean Bank he could expand his small business by creating a sizable processing facility.

For over a decade, Holder has been exporting breadfruits and other locally grown food to clients in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

His main cash commodity – breadfruit, which is sometimes overlooked here, is considered a delicacy and an exotic food overseas and is in high demand.

Holder and two teams of men traverse the island hunting for the starch mainly in the parishes of St Joseph, where he is from, St John and St Philip.

He said there were three seasons and breadfruit trees produced about seven months of the year, with the peak period being summer.

According to Holder, during that time, it was possible for him to harvest 5,000 to 8,000 breadfruits weekly. The most he ever exported to a client was two and a half tonnes which was roughly 1,400 breadfruits.

However, Holder said there was greater potential for the industry than just exporting a primary product.

In fact, there was an even greater demand for breadfruits out of season than when they were in season as people are willing to pay top dollar for them.

Against this background, Holder, one of the few breadfruit exporters in Barbados, said he was no longer comfortable repeating the same cycle every year – picking breadfruits, packaging them and airlifting them to clients.

He said he wanted to do something impactful not only to expand his business, but to put Barbados on the map as a “mean” competitive breadfruit exporter.

Last year, he was trying to solidify a partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Export Barbados (Barbados Investment & Development Corporation) but was unsuccessful.

However, he is taking matters into his own hands in an effort to revolutionise the industry.

“We don’t have enough to cover everybody so I tend to stick to my three loyal [overseas] clients. The market has tremendous areas for growth. Breadfruits are one of the few things we can really do well with here in terms of agriculture. Based on the stock we have on the island, we need to educate more people about breadfruits and let them know that there is money on those trees.”

Holder said that St Lucia and Jamaica were Barbados’ main competitors in the breadfruit export business but Bajan breadfruits had the advantage because they were of a better texture and taste.

However, the businessman said that during the summer period the competition sometimes resulted in gluts in the overseas markets and this was why he said an out-of-season business and a storage and packaging facility is key.

Furthermore, during the peak season about 3 000 breadfruits are wasted weekly as there are too many to pick. He said if there was a storage facility he could sell the produce out of season and do more with it.

“Last year we lost a tremendous amount of breadfruits and I had some very irate householders because I promised them I won’t let the breadfruits from their trees drop. So the whole thing is to eliminate the spoilage and wastage and make breadfruits a year-round thing.

“So by summer this year we would have that organised thanks to my business banking manager.

“The way I want to expand is to have breadfruits prepared for pickle, some prepared for frying, some prepared for baking and so on. To be able to do that, which would include the facility and cold storage, is around $200,000.”

With this processing facility, he explained, it would also be much easier for breadfruit to be offered on menus in restaurants and hotels. He said the existing issue was that it was too difficult to peel and prepare.

As it relates to the development of the industry, Holder pointed out that the sector did not need any broken promises.

“I’ve spoken to people in the Ministry of Agriculture and people at BIDC and we need more than lip service when it comes to the development of the industry. We don’t need anybody to say they would come and help you do this and that and then a year passes and we haven’t gotten any help.

“Not that we are begging for handouts, but we have something here that we can add some value to. We are trying to drive exports. We want to earn foreign exchange and I would think that this is something that the ministry and Export Barbados would really love to see and push further,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Holder noted that he could not reach this level of success without CIBC First Caribbean and Massy Stores, which he credited with supporting him in creating an export niche.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb