THE organic pineapples grown by Mainstay/Whyaka Farmers and processed by AMAZON CARIBBEAN GUYANA LTD (AMCAR) since 2004 will not be available anymore on the shelves of European supermarkets as the collaboration comes to an end.

In a letter from the Village Captain, the Company was informed that the Village Council is seeking another partnership to operate the factory, as there was no production this year. The Council is simply blaming the Company for not operating the factory since July 2013, but the truth is much more complicated.
The crop of 2013 was estimated by the village council and the association at 47,000 pineapples. However, only 14,843 pineapples were sold to the factory in 2013, making it unprofitable.
Only 26,828 jars were produced. The Company has a potential market for 500,000 jars of pineapples per year for a value of Gy$125M. This would require farmers to supply over 270,000 pineapples earning close to Gy$46M.
The product must be organic and meet IFS requirements. In 2014, while figures are not made available to the Company by the Farmers Association, only a few thousand pineapples were available. Following a discussion between CEO and Village Captain in April, the factory was not opened.
The decline is due to the fact that farmers did not follow the initial plan. They focused on price, not volume and did not increase their acreage to sustainably supply the factory. Aging farmers and even the sad passing away of some farmers, young generation not taking on the challenge of organic farming and some farmers choosing to abandon their farms led to the present situation.
The Company has tried to bring new techniques to the association. Resistance to change and strong belief of farmers that they know best what is to be done for their farm has definitely contributed to the actual situation. The last audit by a Colombian consultant representing ECOCERT INTERNATIONAL pointed out the shortcoming of the project, particularly at the level of farmers. The factory was certified for another year, while the farmers’ certification for the coming crop is pending.
Over the year, AMCAR has always been supportive of the Mainstay project, although it never reached break even. The heart of Palm operation subsidised Mainstay for many years. Management believed in its potential to increase acreage and even develop other products in the organic line. The Company spent Gy$5M over 5 years to cover certification audit for the farmers, as the Community said that they could not pay while promising to build capacity to handle it the following year.
In 2013, AMCAR presented to a major donor agency a multi-million US dollar project for development of organic agriculture including the village of Mainstay. It received positive reviews from that agency but could not go further as communities like Mainstay did not supply commitment letters required. The Company even went to the extent of drafting the letter for the Communities.
Today the Village Council believes that they can operate on their own. While it is a disappointing setback for AMCAR, it proves that throughout the years of collaboration the Company has done a tremendous transfer of technology and skills to the Community. The value of that should at least be recognised.
The Company is very disappointed also that the project initiated in October 2013, under the leadership of Mainstay/Whyaka Captain has suddenly shifted and seems to have left “on the road” the villages that were brought into the project in 2013 in order to supply the Mainstay factory and provide work to the Mainstay villagers. During the project of certification some Capoey farmers expressed their views on the lack of cooperation with the village of Mainstay.
Based on the project started in October 2013, several meetings took place and official from READS, IICA, SBB, CARILED were brought into the project to secure technical support, financing and training, while AMCAR would stand as the buyer for the products.
Time and money were dedicated to this project and it is really frustrating to see this turn of event. They received training from SBB in micro management. What will happen to farmers from Wakapau and Capoey who invested land and time into the project?
As always, in this type of situation, the Company is singled out as “the bad guy” that did not “do enough to support the farmers” and Communities will reject any shared responsibilities in this failure.
AMCAR would like to state that it supported the financial, technical and logistical aspects of this project for years. The Company lost Gy$30M over 5 years but still continued the project because it did not want to let down the Community.
It had only some leverage on farmers and their approach to organic farming, their planning for acreage. It had always indicated the size of market available for planning of crops. It clearly stated that the product must be competitive, and that includes the price it could pay. Communication was very difficult with the community.
AMCAR will certainly revisit project requests from other communities who have expressed their interest to start a factory in their village. AMCAR invites all professional farmers, land owner, business ventures in agriculture to join them in their development project for organic agriculture to go for this potential market. You can get more details at info@amcarguyana.com
JENNIE CHARRAN
Confidential Secretary
Amazon Caribbean Guyana Ltd