Entrepreneurs have been encouraged to take advantage of niche markets for unique items made in Barbados, despite the lack of manufacturing capability to export substantial quantities of products like other countries.
Allister Glean, the Barbados representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), gave this advice to a group of business owners and students at a recent workshop on Developing Food Safety Plans to Enhance Competitiveness at the International Food Science Centre in Newton, Christ Church.
Glean said there were great opportunities for Barbadians to capitalise on regional and international niche markets that are sometimes overlooked.
Barbados did not lack the talent, ingenuity and creativity to produce quality products, but rather it was a case of marketing domestic goods in areas where they would be in high demand and be considered specialty products, he said.
Glean said: “Barbados could build a niche for itself, primarily relying on innovation and creativity. I think, with a focus on players such as Export Barbados, FAO [the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations], CARDI [the Caribbean Agricultural Development Institute], IICA, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we could really boost the capacity of our processors to access those niche markets.
“We are not going to be like Guyana, Suriname or Belize and get onboard mainstream entities like Walmart but we can capture the niche markets which are available out there and some people are already doing it.”
The IICA official said that given the region’s battle with non-communicable diseases, more focus needs to be placed on developing healthy products.
“We are promoting the export of both processed and fresh food but we don’t want to go down the line of unhealthy foods. Many of the people here today are working with healthy, organic food, so yes, there’s a focus on healthy food consumption,” Glean said.
“We want processors to produce healthy food for the market, first locally then for export as it must benefit Barbadians first and foremost. That’s how we can differentiate from the overseas products, by focusing on healthier alternatives.”
Some small-scale business owners who produce spices, syrups, sauces and special flours joined tertiary students in the workshop.
Glean said the workshop was a method of teaching people about different food safety requirements for buyers to feel confident that their products were safe for consumption in light of international food standards.
He added that he was pleased about the establishment of the food centre as it gave small business people an opportunity to produce items to scale that meet worldwide food health and safety regulations.
“It is a game changer. It is a facility designed to process, pack and support processing by local and to some extent, regional players. At the moment it focuses on sauces, condiments and beverages, but there is scope for expansion. There is also laboratory testing of products and processors can access raw materials from here. It is the only active facility of its type in the eastern Caribbean,” the IICA official.
IICA and the FAO are hosting a series of this trade facilitation workshop to strengthen the capacity of agro-exporters in nine countries to access export markets in the Caribbean and international markets via appreciation of market requirements, negotiations, market standards and other promotional strategies. The work is being implemented under a programme entitled Building Export Ready Micro, Small and Medium Sized Agri-Exporters to Access Regional and International Markets, to support the needs of small-scale players across the region who require additional technical resources to engage in international trade.
(SZB)
