The Blue Flame Women’s Group of Bunbury /Hosororo in Region One (Barima/Waini) is targeting the regional markets for export of their recently launched ground coffee.

Chairperson of the group, Mrs. Christine James, told the Guyana Chronicle that the current aim is to satisfy local consumption, but the long-term goal is to introduce the commodity to markets in the region, hopefully by next year.

The product, which is produced by farmers in the Bunbury/Hosororo area, was ceremonially initiated earlier this month at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown.

James, who is also a coffee bean grower, said that her group is hoping to do its own labelling and packaging of the commodity in the near future. That work is currently being done by North West Organics (NWO).

She pointed out that the group made the decision to venture into coffee production because of the ready availability of coffee beans in the community, and following the success of the cocoa, peanut butter, preserved fruits, and crabwood oil projects.

The commodity, which was subjected to limited consumer testing, has been touted as having a distinctive flavour, probably attributable to the fertile lateritic soil and unique environmental conditions of the North West District, a locale which is also commonly referred to as the organic region of Guyana.

James related that the project aims to financially empower women in impoverished communities by increasing their income-generation capacities and credited its fruition to the dedicated support of several Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO) representatives.

She said that NWO founder, Mrs. Annette Arjoon, has also played an instrumental role in the success of the initiative, which meshes with today’s demand for organically-produced foods and dovetails with President Bharrat Jagdeo’s low carbon development strategy.

The Blue Flame Women’s Group Chairperson explained that the production of the commodity employs carbon neutral systems and entails the grinding and drying of coffee beans over a two-day period.

Continuing, James said that the beans are then milled by hand, producing the final product, which is the North West Organics Ground Coffee.

Adverting to the cocoa project, she contended that, while the cocoa initiative in the Mabaruma/Hosororo area has been successful, more work is needed to achieve the desired results and disclosed that the group needs a machine to process the cocoa into chocolate, but that the equipment costs some US$ 67,000.

The Organic Cocoa Industry operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), and the British High Commission Cocoa Research Unit of Trinidad and Tobago.

That project seeks to revitalise and expand organic cocoa production for export as a means of increasing farm revenue for participating farmers, and to strengthen the foundation for the development of an organic agriculture government policy initiative.

It includes training in organic cultivation techniques, identification and classification of local cocoa varieties, revitalisation of standing cocoa trees, and propagation of increased production, and the institutional development of local farmers’ organisations.

The cocoa project started in August 2000, and the first season had yielded some 2,000 pounds of organic cocoa beans.

The latter venture is being funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the British Government and the Government of Guyana.