The Small Business Development Finance Trust (SBDFT) believes that Guyana’s economy can flourish if the agriculture sector is industrialised, so that the country can become more export-oriented and generate more income.
Manjula Brijmohan, managing director of the trust, a microfinance association which focuses largely on agro-based businesses, put forth this theory during an interview with Guyana Times International. She stated that while there is much potential for growth of the economy through the agriculture sector, there are several obstacles that are barring farmers from moving from the production stage to the export stage: “In our environment, there are missing links. For example, we know what we should produce, but the question is: ‘if you produce, what will you do with it?’.”
She stated that this question can only be answered through the implementation of processing technology and the provision of larger markets for the farmers’ produce. She added that there needs to be specific organisations established, such as marketing agencies that will provide information on available technology, markets, and processing methods, for the sector to become more export oriented.
“The producers can’t do everything for the economy. If they increase their production, then they now need to fill the gap of what markets they appeal to. They must look at how they can carry their products from the farm to the shelf, then from the shelf to the table and beyond,” she explained.
Ms Brijmohan said that the public sector can play a major role in achieving this goal, since it helps to provide the private sector with the favourible environment and tools to increase productivity. She explained that this comes in handy, especially when micro and small companies begin to expand. “If you are speaking with reference to the agriculture sector, you need cooperation from government agencies to provide those sorts of interests that can make a farmer’s production productive. Also, if you are looking to grow more and be more export-oriented, the most important element to think about is what you will do with your surplus production,” she said.
She reiterated that Guyana has much potential, and there is clear evidence that people are taking advantage of this. However, there must be a way to ensure that goods produced are exported. One example of increased interest in agriculture can be seen in the increase of educated youth and women who are setting up agriculture-based businesses.
“The reason for this is that the time is different; the local, regional and international environment is changing. Internet facilities have allowed the world to become interlinked. Now people have access to information about what is happening in other parts of the world, therefore they know about the possibilities and opportunities that are available in this sector,” she said.
However, she stated that these people still lack the stimulus that can take them from one stage to the next, as regards production.“The most important thing for the agriculture sector is that we must incorporate industrialization, because Guyana can only improve once we move away from commodity trade,” she said.
Brijmohan then highlighted the importance of a secondary-level processing industry, as farmers need to have something to fall back on should their primary means of production fail.
“No matter how many years after we achieved independence, we are still dependent on rice and sugar,” she stated. She gave the performance of the sugar industry and the Guyana Sugar Corporation as a major example. “In many sugar growing areas, when there are problems with the sugar industry for whatever reason, the level of income is less. And when that happens, their purchasing power is less; and there is no other industry that can sustain that sort of unemployed labour. Therefore, you have to have a way that people can have secondary level of employment, so that they can lean on that during times of struggle,” she opined.
In its 2009 Annual Report, the Small Business Development Finance Trust (SBDFT) put forward a five-year strategic plan which placed specific focus on the delivery of integrated business in the agriculture sector, as well as tapping into the manufacturing industry, with the emphasis being placed on export markets.
