Agro-processing sector growing entrepreneurs

─ Resounding growth in Agro-Processing Sector as GSA prepares to push out largest batch of Agro-processing students in recent years

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, July 2, 2019

The agro-processing sector continues to undergo exponential growth. The Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) showcased several new products ready to hit the market from students that will be graduating from their Agro-Processing and Certificate in Agriculture courses. This year’s Agro-Processing Course is the largest in the history of the institution.

The exhibition featured budding Agro-processors from across Guyana, like Dawn Daw, who came with the dream of finding a way to utilise the large number of pineapples she grows on her farm in Orealla. She has since created a dried pineapple fruit snack, all packaged and prepared by her, and which she hopes to soon be able to launch on the local market with the help of the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC).

There is also Seon Victory, a Vincentian who came to Guyana with hopes of finding new and innovative ways to penetrate the agriculture sector, not only in St Vincent but here as well, as he considers Guyana to be his second home. He would have started as a student in the Certificate in Agriculture Course. He then switched to the Certificate in Agro-Processing as he found it to be his true calling, leading him to produce his Pineapple infused pepper sauce which is as sweet and tangy as it is spicy.

Kelshine’s Sweet Potato Flour

The girl looking to put Orealla on the map for Agro-processing, Dawn Daw [right].

Chief Executive Officer of Shine’s Agri Manufacturing, Kelshine Griffith

Seon’s Tastie Sweet Chilli Pineapple Sauce

The Vincentian with a dream, Seon Victory

One particularly energetic student, Kelshine Griffith is already making waves with her innovative sweet potato flour. The product has already attracted the attention of some local businesspersons who are seeking to buy from her when she finalises the product.

Kelshine had benefitted from a youth empowerment program in 2015 where she was afforded the chance to undergo a crash course in Agro-processing at GSA. It was this course that sparked her passion for agro-processing, and following another management course in 2017, she finally got into the institution last year.

Kelshine has already registered her business – “Shine’s Agri Manufacturing” – and is looking forward to the support of the general public not only for her but for all the budding Agro-processors at the exhibition who intend to push forward with their products.

Images: Giovanni Gajie