Women’s agroprocessing community groups demonstrate that being organized in networks is a best practice in the field.
Georgetown, Guyana. Product development, entrepreneurship made simple and basic marketing were the main topics addressed during a training event for women agro-processing community groups, held in Guyana with support from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
The training was carried out by facilitators from the Guyana School of Agriculture, Epic Stationery Company and Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, in a very practical way so as to effect positive changes and growth in the businesses of the Network Membership.
The Women’s Agro-processors’ Development Network (WADN) comprises eleven community groups of mostly women producers and processors, produce a wide cross section of products, including jams, jellies, marmalade, cereals, wines, lotions, facial cleansers, essential oils, farine, seasonings, hot pepper, achar/anchar, cassreep, relishes, cassava bread/biscuits, eddo flour, honey, etc.
The network started with five groups, and this membership has now grown to eleven, thanks to assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture’s concluded Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Diversification (READ) project.
The WADN is supported by IICA, the Voluntary Services Organization (Canadian University Students Overseas) and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme of Sterling Products Limited, a company seeking to extend its support to the Network over the coming year.
The groups have seen their earnings increase since their launch in 2011, which can be attributed to a moderate increase in market share and skill development.
The network members also held their Annual General and Network Meetings during which they elected their Executive for the period September 2016 – September 2017 and discussed the challenges being faced, proposed solutions and identified four priority activities which the Network will execute during 2017.
The Executive Committee is confident about the network’s future, and is convinced that the Network is a best practice in the field. However, it is also cautious about increasing the network’s membership in the too near future.
Looking ahead to 2017, the participants agreed to concentrate on the following areas:
- Capacity Building (HACCP Pre-requisite programmes, HACCP and Product Development)
- Increase in local markets by 20%
- Formalize overseas markets and co-host three (3) mini exhibitions using the Guyana Embassies in the United Kingdom, USA and Canada.
- Business registration and FDD Certification of the remaining four (4) agro-processing facilities.
- Preparation of a grant application to access funds for training of Members and purchase of affordable, low cost, relevant equipment
Despite the challenges of fluctuating prices and availability of raw materials; relatively high cost of packaging materials; energy and labels; and transportation to market, the members of the WADN continue to develop themselves and their businesses, and look forward to a more prosperous 2017 and beyond as they work towards reducing the cost of production by seeking more efficient sources of renewable energy for their processing facilities, among other improvements.
More information: maxine.aaron-parris@iica.int
