Saint Lucia businessman Rayneau Gajadhar has launched an agricultural exports company, Rayneau Industries Limited in a bid to assist farmers.
Gajadhar’s company exported a container of vegetables and fruits from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United States Virgin Islands last week.
It is a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines initiative but open to other countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
Gajadhar explained that Vincentian Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar had been the most passionate about the venture.
“It should extend to the other OECS Islands, but it needs to get the passion from the governments and the Agriculture Ministers to become a reality,” he said.
“The idea is to buy all farmers’ agricultural products, whether good, bad, or ugly, grade the products, and look for markets to resell,” Gajadhar explained.
In addition, he disclosed that payment would be one of the critical elements of the initiative.
According to Gajadhar, farmers receive payment immediately when delivering their products and can use the money to reinvest in areas such as inputs.
He observed that access to ready markets had been an issue for farmers over the years.
St Vincent (SVG) exports vegetables, fruits to the US Virgin Islands (USVI)
