KINGSTOWN, St Vincent – The Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines has signed a data management and protection agreement with California-based Quantum Inc., paving the way for local dasheen and hot pepper farmers to enter the United States market.
Israel BruceAgriculture Minister Israel Bruce and Quantum Chief Executive Officer Jacques Nack signed the agreement during a joint press conference in Kingstown on Monday.
The agreement is the second of three steps toward establishing export arrangements and follows memoranda of understanding signed in Los Angeles in June. Purchase contracts between farmers and US buyers will be the final step.
California companies Happy Produce Global LLC and Seasons Farm Fresh will handle the purchase of dasheen and hot peppers respectively.
Quantum has also launched its Farm app, which field agents will use to map farms, record crops and acreage, monitor weather and provide digital support to farmers. Farmer enrolment begins this week.
Bruce said the arrangement includes a guaranteed minimum price to protect farmers from market fluctuations, with buyers able to pay more when market prices rise but not below the agreed floor when prices fall.
“You are guaranteed a stabilised price for the lifespan of this,” he said.
Because most farms range from two to four acres, Quantum will pool production into groups, allowing multiple farmers to fulfil individual export orders.
Nack said Quantum would not charge brokerage fees, allowing farmers to retain more of the trade value.
He said reliable farm data is critical to ensuring buyers know how much produce is being grown and when it will be available.
“We do not have a production problem in St. Vincent,” Nack said. “What is really hard is everything else around the growing.”
He said the data collected will include acreage, crops and planting information, but not personal identification.
Nack said Quantum has hired local Vincentians as field agents and will establish aggregation depots where produce will be purchased, washed, packaged and prepared for shipment.
Addressing farmer concerns about previous export initiatives, Nack said, “Judge us on the first order. Judge us on the first container that ships.”
Tourism Minister Kishore Shallow said expanding agricultural exports and increasing local purchases by the tourism sector could help retain more visitor spending in the country.
He said hoteliers have identified inconsistency in the quantity, quality and cost of local produce as barriers to increasing purchases from domestic farmers.
Meanwhile, Bruce said the ministry is testing cameras for pre-harvest crop monitoring and is considering an initial purchase of 1,000 units for four pilot programmes.
