Local Agri-Food Sector reports tangible benefits from NAMIS.

 

The National Agricultural Marketing Information System (NAMISTT) launched on the 23^rd of January 2007, is already providing tangible benefits to the local agriculture sector. In this instance local is in the context of the Common Single Market and Economy (CSME) extends to the wider Caricom region. The NAMISTT has been a great fillip for NAMDEVCO to disseminate agricultural prices in real time, provide an avenue for buyers and sellers to meet, provide contacts of key persons in the sector as well as provide “tech packs” on how to grow crops and invest in agribusiness opportunities.

 

Key players in the sector indicate that the greatest impact of NAMISTT is in the area of timely dissemination of the wholesale prices. Prior to the NAMIS being available on-line, large buyers of seafood and fresh produce such as the large supermarket chains and hotels were at the mercy of their suppliers. They suspected that they were paying higher than the market rates but had no readily available and reliable way of verifying it. As a result, they literally had to take whatever fresh produce and seafood prices offered to them. Managers of fresh produce and seafood procurement at some major supermarkets and hotels are now using the information on a daily basis to inform their purchasing decisions.

 

Large farmers that wholesale their produce at the farm gate are also closely monitoring the www.namistt.com site to determine what is a fair farm gate price to sell their produce. The site, is therefore, leveling the playing field with respect to wholesale price information to the benefit of both the farmers and consumers.

 

The site has also facilitated the creation of at least one new business. Using the buyers and sellers forum on the site, Mr. Timmothy John has established a business to market fresh produce. He currently sources produce and finds buyers from the site.

 

The site is also facilitating both exports and imports of fresh produce and seafood. Our CARICOM neighbours, particularly those in St. Vincent , Grenada , and Dominica are using the site to determine what produce they can export to Trinidad and Tobago . Barbados on the other hand monitors the site to determine which of our produce can be imported more competitively from Trinidad and Tobago than from Miami . Ms. Sherry Joseph of PROCOMER, the Costa Rican agency for promoting trade indicated that they use the site extensively to determine opportunities for exports of fresh produce from Costa Rica to Trinidad and Tobago .