Guyanese chocolate for British market

By Wendella Davidson
Guyana Chronicle
June 7, 2000


GUYANESE chocolate is, within a year, expected to be on sale in the British market as an organic product, British High Commissioner, Mr Edward Glover said yesterday.

The significant breakthrough, according to him, will be made through a recently forged niche market under which local farmers are to meet an October target of 25 tons of organically-grown cocoa.

The crop which will garner about US$37,000 when reaped, will be sent to the Netherlands where it will be processed before being shipped to the United Kingdom.

The multi-million dollar project between the British and Guyana governments has its genesis in an idea mooted by His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, who had enquired about the possibility of growing organic foods here while on a State visit to this country in February last.

Glover, a key figure in the project coming on stream, told a press conference yesterday that the British Government will, within a month, make available $14M to rehabilitate 100 acres of existing cocoa plantation in Hosororo and Mabaruma, in Region One (Barima/Waini), for the scheme.

The funding has been made possible by the Department for International Development (DFID) through its small projects scheme.

An additional sum of about $5M will be provided by the Guyana Government, all of which will be administered by the overseeing agriculture agency, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

Other agencies to be involved in the project are the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI); the New Guyana Marketing Corporation and the Ministry of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock.

Glover said the monies will help in planting new trees to extend the area of cocoa cultivation and ensure that a certification system is in place so that no chemicals or pesticides are used in the production and processing of the product (organic production).

Work on the initial certification process is due to get on stream next week, he said.

The High Commissioner pointed out too, that as of October, local cocoa farmers will be linked in a commercial relationship with Dutch and UK companies.

He added that the project will help develop the traditional Amerindian crop, alleviate poverty in a section of the Barima/Waini region through the mechanism of enterprise of development, help the farming-community become self-sustaining, in addition to providing the local private sector with a new area of activity.

He foresees the project will also forge openings for other crops such as coffee, peanuts and sugar.

Glover said the Office of the Prince of Wales is delighted that the project has come on stream, adding that it has been closely scrutinised and samples of the local beans found to be of a high quality.

Minister of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, Mr Satyadeow Sawh noted that the project is a first step towards Guyana's effort to make organic agriculture a thing of the future.

He said the demand is becoming greater in countries in North America and Europe for organically-grown foods which ensure a sound and healthy body.

He feels Guyana could be on the verge of a revolution in agriculture in farming, noting that markets can also be forged for cashew, coffee and peanuts if they are grown under organic conditions.

Mr Gerry La Gra, head of IICA, said the new scheme was one of the more exciting projects.

Noting that training will have to be done, he said his organisation plans to link with organic cocoa specialists from around the Caribbean and Ecuador, and in particular the Dominican Republic a major exporter of organic cocoa.

Also at yesterday's briefing were Director of NARI, Dr Oudho Homenauth; Mr Jim Brady of the DFID office in the UK and President of the Private Sector Commission, Mr George Jardim.


Follow the goings-on in Guyana
in Guyana Today