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$2.7m
plan for food and beverage
Trade
and Industry Minister Ken Valley, from left, chats with Ashmeer
Mohammed, of KC Confectionery and Paul Quesnel, president
of the TTMA, at the recent presentation of the food and beverage
industry plan to stakeholders.
As
one of the stalwarts of the non-energy manufacturing sector,
the local food and beverage industry contributes three per
cent of total gross domestic product (GDP), and over 44 per
cent of manufacturing GDP. The industry comprises approximately
420 registered firms, employing over 9,000 people and is firmly
established in the Caricom and regional markets.
Given the importance of this sector to industrial development
and its critical linkages with other sectors, most notably
agriculture, printing and packaging, the food and beverage
sector $2.7 million strategic development plan has received
Cabinet approval and funding to implement significant development
strategies designed to make the industry globally competitive.
The plan was derived from the input of industry stakeholders
and the Cabinet-approved draft was recently presented to them
by Trade and Industry Minister Kenneth Valley and a team of
ministry technical officers.
According to Minister Valley, as part of the overall economic
diversification strategy and the drive for industrial development,
Government, through the Standing Committee on Business Development,
has targeted the aggressive development of certain non-energy
sectors in which the country enjoys traditional advantages,
holds a substantial resource base or has the potential for
competitive advantage in the international trading environment.
Given that the food and beverage sector met these criteria,
it was selected along with six other key industry areas—fish
and fish processing, music and entertainment, film, printing
and packaging, yachting and merchant marine.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry functions as secretariat
for the standing committee and co-ordinated industry development
teams for each sector. The mandate of these teams was to create
strategic development plans for the specific industry, in
consultation with public and private sector stakeholders.
All the plans have been submitted to Cabinet, with five already
in the first stages of implementation.
What makes this process different, said Minister Valley, is
that Government is acting as a facilitator for industrial
development, while the private sector and industry stakeholders
have the responsibility for driving the implementation process
to develop the particular sector.
The minister indicated that Government’s focus on diversification
of the economy, in particular the non-energy sector of T&T,
is driven by the fact that energy resources, which today are
the lifeblood of our economy, are finite in nature, and at
the same time they provide us with the financial resources
to drive the growth of more sustainable sectors.
In fact, said the minister, to support sustained economic
growth over the long term, T&T must develop a significant
and competitive non-energy sector.
While the food and beverage industry is indeed well established
in the local and regional economy, with a solid brand presence
in Caricom, there are some difficulties which are impacting
on the further development of the sector, and which need to
be addressed for the industry to surge ahead as a major global
competitive force. Some of these constraints include:
Limited product development capacity.
Inadequate market intelligence.
Inadequate organisational resources.
Lack of adequate access to financing.
Weak food safety environment.
Unreliable supply of primary agricultural produce.
The industry’s strategic plan was developed by its stakeholders
to address these issues and lay the ground work for local
businesses to meet their extra-regional competition head on.
Indeed, during his remarks at the presentation to industry
stakeholders, Tim Nafziger, team leader for the strategic
plan development project, and now chairman of the newly formed
Food and Beverage Industry Development Committee, indicated
that the plan had been developed through the input of industry
operators, governmental agencies, other major stakeholders
and in consultation with food sector specialists from abroad.
The final document was informed by global and regional industry
trends, research on best practices and the current state of
the industry, Nafziger said.
In terms of major recommendations, the strategic plan has
proposed certain critical steps, including the formation of
the food and beverage committee to oversee implementation.
Other major plan initiatives include:
Updating of standards and legislation to improve food safety
and quality.
Development of increased level of market intelligence to increase
export market opportunities.
Introduction of incentives linking primary production to value-added
processing to maximise local/regional input into the value
chain.
Increasing technical support for product and technological
development to enhance international competitiveness.
Establishing a system of registration and mandatory certification
of food importers, processors and distributors to improve
food safety and quality.
In this first year of the plan, the committee has identified
specific projects for immediate implementation. These include
developing a national food safety and awareness campaign,
technical assistance for competitiveness and food safety upgrade,
increasing linkages between local farmers and producers, and
creation of a market intelligence unit.
One organisation which is following the implementation of
the plan very closely is the T&T Manufacturers Association
(TTMA). According to its president Paul Quesnel, half of his
organisation’s membership is represented by the food
and beverage sector, and the TTMA believes that the ongoing
success of the sector would lead to increased industrial development,
more jobs, generally stimulate investment and contribute to
greater food security.
The local food and beverage industry can boast of internationally
recognised players such as SM Jaleel, Bermudez, National Canners,
Bermudez Biscuit Company Ltd, Chief Brand Products, Fernandes
Distillers and KC Confectionery.
At the same time, the other end of the spectrum features small-scale
enterprises such as juice processors, seasoning and condiment
manufacturers, nuts and channa bottlers, etc, who function
primarily within the local or regional marketplace.
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