The Guyana Shop at seven
Over the seven years of its existence the Guyana Shop has, perhaps surprisingly, positioned itself as arguably, the foremost promoter of the nation’s agricultural sector, not least, the spinoffs that derive from the agro- processing sub sector.
The first point that should perhaps be made about the Guyana Shop is that the official resource outlay on the establishment is decidedly modest in comparison to the array of services that it offers. These services range from local product promotion initiatives through the shelves of its modest ‘supermarket’ to standards testing by setting a qualifying bar in the areas of packaging and labelling. A measure of support is also offered to our fast-emerging band of diligent and determined agro-processors seeking to have their brands embraced by the regional market.
The work of the Guyana Shop in affording shelf space to a range of local products ranging from tamarind balls to tomato ketchup contrasts sharply with what still remains to be the seeming reluctance of some of our local food outlets to make concessions for the ‘buy local’ message that we seek to project; and however much the urgings of this newspaper may be discomfiting in some quarters, we will continue to insist that Trinidad & Tobago, in particular, be encouraged to remedy its one-sided ways insofar as its importation of every item of food and drink ranging from beverages and beer to attractively packaged biscuits and cookies into this country is concerned, as against its unmistakable determination to keep our own products out of that country.
In this regard we are utilising the opportunity, not for the first time, to call on our local Business Support Organisations to depart from their inwardlooking ways and to associate themselves with what is still a weak lobby to break the shackles of protectionism that stand as a barrier between many of the same goods that ‘make’ the shelves of the Guyana Shop and a protectionist Trinidad and Tobago market. We wish, as well, to urge a hastening of the pace of the ongoing diplomatic dialogue between Georgetown and Port of Spain on the issue which, as we understand it, is designed to roll back the twin-island Republic’s protectionist ways. The same, it has to be said, applies to some local outlets that stock only a very limited number of local products compared with foreign goods.