New operators of Fish Marketing Corporation optimistic

During his contribution to the Appropriation Bill on April 17, Minister For Agriculture Ezechiel Joseph sought once more to clear the air on the future of the St. Lucia Marketing Board and the St. Lucia Fish Marketing Corporation following the announced temporary closure of the entities in March. In the case of the marketing board, the minister said the organisation had been restructured, was under new management, and that government was very encouraged from early results.

Last November the Ministry of Agriculture, along with the Taiwanese government, announced the signing of an action plan for the implementation of a Food Import Substitution Project aimed at reducing the nation’s food import bill and increasing the production of nine food crops: tomato, sweet pepper, lettuce, cucumber, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple and cabbage—at a cost of US$2.7 million. The   marketing board provides a reliable market for farmers to sell their produce.

As for the St. Lucia Fish Marketing Corporation, Mr. Joseph announced that a decision had been taken to privatize it and the facility was leased to Ms. Karen Fontenelle-Peter. The businesswoman currently serves as the president of the Chamber of Commerce. This week the STAR spoke with her managing director Hilary Herman, concerning their plans for the entity. He said that the current facility in Sans Souci will need to be refurbished to create a better working environment, and to get certified for exports. They are hopeful the refurbishment will be completed by early July.  Discussions with a contractor are on-going. In the meantime a temporary retail area has been set up not far from the facility. 

An area of focus, going forward, is reducing operating costs. Said Herman: “I don’t see us getting any near the level of the staffing of the former SLFMC. We have to do things more efficiently and be more productive.” He disclosed that one of government’s requests is that the price of ice to the fishers not be increased. As for the price of fish to consumers, Herman does not expect that to change but the business must be competitive. Since the market drives the price, he said, they “will need to stay within the price range of competitors”.

Herman says that in addition to supplying fish locally, the corporation intends to test the international waters. The intention is to do a lot of exporting and the corporation will focus its model mainly on this avenue. “Yes, we have a domestic market,” he acknowledged, “but, as you would imagine, the domestic market is saturated. So we hope by us keeping our domestic prices down, we can make up the difference in our exports. To enter that export market we need to get our facility HACCP certified.”

Time will tell whether the transition of the SLFMC to a private entity will prove to be the right decision. Herman pointed out that, in the past, there was greater concentration on social responsibility than on profit.

“That does not mean that we do not have a social responsibility,” he emphasised, “we do; we have to take care of the fishers.” Regarding the exact details of the lease agreement, such as the duration, cost and requirements, the involved parties are reportedly still fine-tuning an agreement. Attempts to reach the Ministry of Agriculture for an update this week proved futile.