Within minutes, farmers can now access market prices

GINA, GUYANA, August 31, 2016

Farmers can now access market prices for their products through the new Guyana Marketing Corporation’s (GMC) 1010 Text system.  This is a system which allows farmers to have access to the market value of products within minutes.

The system is simple to use and only requires the correct spelling of the commodity along with a Digicel cell phone.

Ida Sealey-Adams new GMC’s General Manager explained that, “Once you have a Digicel phone you can utilise it to obtain market prices from our wholesale and farm gate markets. All you have to do is text 1010, you input the name of the commodity and then you input the name of the market, and the price comes up for you,” she said.

This system attracts a cost of $5 per text and offers over 50 different commodities including bora, mango, lime, coconut water, pineapple, papaw, pak choi, pumpkin, squash, passion fruit, eggs, carilla, sugar, yam, both brown and white rice, and chicken and beef.

The information in the system is updated on a weekly basis to ensure accurate market values, both locally and internationally. This service can be a very useful tool to farmers because it better equips them with the statistics needed for negotiating product prices on the wholesale and farmgate markets.

New GMC also offers several other services to individuals in the business sector, primarily in the field of agriculture.  The Marketing Information Centre is the facility’s hub for information and offers brokerage services, where export brokerage documents are prepared at a very competitive rate.  The staff at the facility enables the preparation of export brokerage documents after which they are reviewed with the customer.  This service is available to persons who may be doing business in fields outside of the agriculture sector.

Agriculture business development advice is also available to agro processors, prospective agro processers, exporters and potential exporters. This service can be accessed by a simple walk in system, or a visit to the GMC office.

Additionally, the Market Analyst Department captures local market prices and production data, generates reports, conducts commodity analyses, monitors local, regional and international markets, offers advice, and provides information on availability of produce and markets.

Further, GMC’s Market Extension Service sees field officers collecting information of projects on the ground, as well as providing training to farmers.

The new GMC is a government corporation established under section 46 of the Public Corporations Act, Cap 19:05  1963 of the Laws of Guyana with the aim of promoting the cultivation and export of non-traditional agricultural crops to regional and extra-regional markets.