A SMALL poultry venture in the rural community of Baracara in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) is making big strides, thanks to strategic support from the Ministry of Agriculture. What started as a modest chicken-rearing operation has now blossomed into a flourishing agro-business, dubbed by its owner “Feather to Flavor.”
The initiative, spearheaded by Conroy La Fleur, has grown from a basic poultry-rearing project into a vertically integrated small business. La Fleur told the Sunday Chronicle that he started the business about three years ago.
“I had one year’s bad patch where I had to drop out and I actually get push out from the business because of transportation from Baracara to New Amsterdam, because you only get a small profit from the chicken like $500, so if you don’t mind the chicken on a large scale you can’t get a large amount of money so I had failed in that area.”
Nevertheless, La Fleur said he never gave up. He kept working, eventually re-investing and taking charge of the entire process – raising the chickens, plucking them, seasoning them, and finally making the deliveries himself.
“So on Fridays, they come and uplift their packaged chickens and they can order it online…because actually each house has their personal internet, so we do better business, better communication and everything like that, so they will order and uplift their seasoned chicken and then just go home to cook.”
And so, the name “Feather to Flavor” was born for La Fleur’s poultry farm. During a recent meeting in Baracara with Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, La Fleur shared his goal of expanding his business from 200 to 500 meat birds in order to increase his profit within the six-week rearing period. In response, Minister Mustapha assured him on the spot that the government would support him by providing the additional 300 birds.
The Baracara initiative reflects the government’s commitment to expanding local agro-processing and food security efforts by empowering rural communities. Minister Mustapha praised the project, calling it a model for other hinterland and riverine communities.
“We believe in building agricultural entrepreneurs from the ground up,” Mustapha said during his visit to the community, noting that projects like Feather to Flavor prove that with the right support, small farmers can become industry leaders in their own regions. As Guyana seeks to diversify its economy and reduce dependence on food imports, stories like Baracara’s offer a compelling vision of sustainable, grassroots-led agricultural growth.