3.13 Trinidad and Tobago

Contents - Previous - Next

The current status of the cottage industry in Trinidad and Tobago

Dr. Maura Imbert Principal Researcher, Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) West Indies University

3.13.1 Executive summary

The Ministry of Works, Industrialization and Decentralization has established an Industrial Cottages Programme in Trinidad and Tobago. This programme covers a wide range of activities, which include agro-processing, fabric design incorporating batik, silk screening and tie dying, manufacture of furniture and toys, handicraft and musical instruments. Appropriate lines of the cottage industry products are selected to suit the orientation, location and basic skills of the unemployed residents in a community. Emphasis is placed on the use of indigenous materials in all cottage production. A state owned private limited liability company is being established to carry out the commercial activities of the programme.

3.13.2 Introduction

The Industrial Cottages Programme arose out of the desire to introduce production activity into the community in the form of cottage industries, in a setting in which such economic activity is closely associated with social and cultural life in each particular community. In the basic system, an attractive complex of buildings has been constructed within the community, and equipped with facilities and machinery to enable a selected range of products to be manufactured. The structures also serve to accommodate some of the social and cultural needs of the neighbouring residents, so that a positive bond has developed within the community. This bond has been made even stronger by the methods of construction used, in which the very community members who are to benefit from the facilities are employed as labour intensive construction workers during the construction phase.

Community business organizations (e.g. the Community Economic Cooperatives) were invited to send its members (youth in particular) for further orientation and extensive practical training in cottage production and business management. During and after training, occupants of the cottage are involved in actual production of goods for the marketplace. Emphasis is placed on the use of indigenous materials in all cottage production and also on achieving and maintaining high standards in goods produced

Accordingly, strict quality control is applied to qualify products for trade under the trade name of Cottage Products.

The Cottage Administration is responsible for the purchase of input materials to in-house cottage production and for the marketing of finished products. To carry out this commercial activity, a state owned private, limited, liability company is being established. The company is expected to operate as a self-supporting organization, charging appropriate fees to the community business organization utilizing the Cottage and to the Government for any training or promotion services it performs on behalf of Government.

Beyond direct production within the Cottage facilities, persons trained at the Cottage or elsewhere are expected to carry out cottage production at their own premises utilizing the equipment and other services available at the Cottage. This includes purchasing arrangements for input materials (at bulk-purchased prices), quality control services and marketing arrangements. Thus, the community is expected to benefit from the advantages of large scale production, including Cottages, while also promoting the Cottages Programme, with the potential for expansion both in respect of production effort and output, and in respect of community linkages for domestic marketing purposes.

The Industrial Cottages Programme is expected to result in the development of expertise in particular production lines within communities, allowing each community so served to establish itself locally and abroad as being specially associated with certain chosen high quality products. This would be the basis for the emergence of economic community vitality. While the community would continue to pursue other business activities of its choice, the industrial cottages would serve as the centres of excellence and example, and as an essential link within the wider chain formed by the emerging community business sector. The industrial cottages currently operating or expected to become operational in 1991 and the cottage industry products identified at this stage for the respective cottages are listed in the following page.

The Ministry of Works, Infrastructure and Decentralization and the Industrial Cottages Company are responsible for accessing and providing support services in respect of the Cottage and Craft Industry Programme. An in-house team of research training and marketing staff has therefore been assembled for the task, supported by the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) and other consultants to the programme, and the full array of Government's support services in Small Business Development, and in the trade and transport sector, is available.

Certainly, the concept of Cottage Industry is not new to Trinidad and Tobago. However, the potential for achieving far reaching results lies in the combination of this means of labour intensive industry with large scale community training and mobilization and effective national support.

4.13.3 Government policy

As stated in the Introduction, the Ministry of Works, Industrialization and Decentralization has launched the Cottage Industry Programme in Trinidad and Tobago. It has appointed consultants to this programme drawn from the University of the West Indies, the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute and other centres of expertise. These consultants provide an ongoing training programme to the trainees of the individual Cottages. They also assist in all aspects of Research and Development. Trainees are given a stipend during their training period.

Table 1. Industrial cottages operational in 1991 and associated lines of production

4.13.4 Technical. economical and organizational aspects of the programme

The Industrial Cottage Programme in its present form has certain weaknesses which are mainly due to bureaucracy, shortages of raw materials and lack of marketing expertise. The acquisition of essential services and equipment is often delayed because of an invoicing system distrusted by some suppliers. The utilization of raw materials for agro-processing is not yet fully developed, although a programme for the rehabilitation of local estates is addressing this problem. A consideration of the import of certain fruits and vegetables in the short term may be indicated to maintain the activities of viable processing ventures. A cross fertilization process within the Caribbean region, involving an exchange of formulations and expertise and offering training where required, should greatly enhance regional cottage industry. Market expertise must also be acquired, perhaps with the assistance of external funding agencies.

3.13.5 Participation of women

The Cottage Industry Programme in Trinidad and Tobago is heavily slanted towards the participation of women, who act as cottage supervisors in most instances and are in the majority in each group of trainees graduating from the various cottage training schemes.

3.13.6 Equipment and technology available for cottage industries

Availability of appropriate equipment and technology for the cottage industries is one of the more serious shortcomings of this type of project. This difficulty stems from the fact that a high percentage of the agro processing equipment used in the country is imported from the developed countries. Since these imports are designed for large scale production systems, they are unsuitable for use in the industrial Cottages. Some small producers have tried using domestic small appliances. However, these appliances are not designed for continuous production and thus breakdown quite frequency.

CARIRI is now engaged in a project to promote the local manufacture of suitable pieces of agricultural equipment and machinery. This project specifically targets the small to medium size producer and a number of items has already been developed for the industry. The more relevant ones -all of them available on request through CARIRI's Machinery Development Unit- are as follows:

• Honey Extractor
• Semi-Solids Filler
• Steam Blancher
• Cherry Pitter
• Cassava Grater
• Mixer Stirrer
• Motorized Grinder

The thrust into the area of the cottage industries has also created problems with processing parameters, such as shelf life, separation, labelling, packaging, quality control techniques, etc. The technology for solving these problems are all available through CARIRl's Food and Beverage Agri Business Unit. This Unit is staffed by trained Food Technologists and Chemical Engineers who has at their disposal a Pilot Plant for trial and contract processing. This allows for verification of a process before actual production begins.

3.13.7 Summary and conclusions

The Cottage Industry Programme initiated by the Ministry of Works, Infrastructure and Decentralization is a viable entity in Trinidad and Tobago. Three Cottages are currently actively engaged in agro processing and the quality of products produced, under the guidance of CARIRI is steadily improving to the acceptable commercialization stage. Cottage activities have spearheaded efforts to reduce the current wastage of fruits and vegetables by inexpensive but efficient post harvest treatments. The formulation of the proposed limited liability company will greatly assist in the marketing of mango products.

3.14 Project Gcp/Jam/0161Net

Status of Postharvest activities of fresh produce in Jamaica with reference to export and food losses of small farmers

Ms. J. Lawrence National Postharvest Specialist Rural Agricultural Development Authority Ministry of Agriculture

3.14.1 Introduction

Jamaica depends heavily on its agricultural sector to provide exports, thereby earning valuable foreign exchange as well as to supply food for local consumption. In 1990, Jamaica earned US$ 161.5 million in the export of traditional and non-traditional agricultural produce. The traditional produce included banana, coconut, sugar, citrus, coffee and pimento and the non-traditional produce were tubers, vegetables, fruits and ornamentals. These produce were exported to the U.S.A., Canada, the U.K., Europe and other Caribbean islands, via air and sea freight. Most of these produce are cultivated on an estimated 193 000 farms of various size. However, most of the farming is done by small scale farmers representing 87 per cent of the farming population. Of this 76 per cent of the total number of farms exist, of 25 to over 200 acres of land producing sugar, citrus, banana, coconut, mango and papaya.

Due to the abundance of small farmers and their importance to the agricultural sector of the country, the problems of the small farmers have been given priority attention. As a result, the Government has formed the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), a statutory body which is legislated to provide an efficient extension service to the small farmers, particularly, and to participate in the formulation and implementation of rural development of agriculture in Jamaica.

Distribution of the bulk of domestic food supply (80%) is in the hands of the "higglers "(traders). These are a highly organized group of individual whose members are mostly women. However, problems exist in the system resulting in gluts versus scarcity and a wide range of prices throughout the country. Therefore, the present system is inadequate. Small scale farmers in hilly sections of the country continue to experience great losses in their production, due to enormous production and handling problems resulting into 25-50 per cent post-harvest loss. These farmers use marginal land which is subject to erosion, and grow short term crop such as vegetables, in order to obtain quick financial returns.

3.14.2 Project profile

The project is sited in the uppermost part of the Rio Minho watershed area in the Parish of Clarendon, which is in the Central part of the country and the project area

encompasses five districts. The terrain is fairly rugged with steep slopes. The project has the following development and immediate objectives.

A. Development objective

The development objective of the project is to reduce vegetable, root crop and legume losses and increase the amount of food marketed by introducing improved integrated farm management production systems and postharvest techniques to thereby improve the welfare of the hillside farming community.

B.Immediate objectives

The project's immediate objectives are to:

a)Reduce product losses occurring on the farm and in the marketing system; emphasis is to be given to roots, legumes and perishable vegetables.
b)Strengthen the extension services in hillside watershed districts by integrated pre harvest practices and training into the farm management and postharvest marketing programmes in the areas through the use of contact growers and higglers.
c)Develop cost effective disease and pest control recommendations and postharvest handling and storage techniques for extension programmes that are to be adopted by at least 25 per cent of hillside farmers in the project area by the end of the project.
d)Improve the higglers market intelligence and postharvest treatment of produce and increased feed-back of market demand information to growers.

C .Staffing

The project staff consists of the FAO Chief Technical Advisor, an Associate Professional Officer (APO), a National Postharvest Specialist, who is also the National Postharvest Counterpart to the project, and two Extension Officers employed by RADA in the Ministry of Agriculture. The APO assists with the training of farmers and higglers in the area of postharvest technology and other relevant area of knowledge. The Extension Officers assist with the dissemination of information via group extension activities which involve on-the-farm discussions and implementation of relevant techniques. Follow-up visits to individual farms of contact farmers take place. Technical advice and cooperation is given through a multidisciplinary task force and core team of resource personnel.

D. Project area

There are 800-1 000 farmers in the five project districts of Macknie, Coley, Sandy River, Mason River and Douglas Castle. Roughly one third of the farmers are women. There are also about thirty higglers. The farmers are mainly small scale vegetable growers cultivating on sloping land subject to soil erosion. The types of crops grown by all farmers are:

a) Vegetables: lettuce, cabbage, pak choy and sweet pepper.
b)Root crops: yams, irish potato and dasheen.
c) Legumes: Limited amounts of red peas and guango (pigeon) peas.

Seventy percent of the farmers grow vegetables, 20 per cent root crops and the remaining 10 per cent grow carrot and legumes. Through several visits and meetings with farmers and higglers of the area and Government officials, it was agreed that there is a grave problem of postharvest loss (loss in quantity, quality and food value) in the crops produced, which ultimately resulted in financial loss to the farmers. Causes of this loss were identified and, through a diagnostic survey, the preliminary loss figures as percentage of the total amount of food harvested were revealed as follows:

• improper harvesting 5-8%
• improper packaging 25-50%
• lack of appropriate transport 10-14%
• inadequate storage facilities 8-10%
• lack of market 40-100%

E. Present situation of project area causing loss

1)Cultural practice: Vegetable plots are planted by means of broadcast sowing of seeds which present problems during harvesting. For example, in lettuce and cabbage, farmers and farm workers while walking in the field to select and harvest good quality produce, trample others causing wilting and physical damage. The high cost of inputs, such as fertilizer and insecticides, result in vegetables of poor quality being produced as the correct or recommended dosage rates are not being applied and also at the right time. This problem is further compounded by the inadequate extension and advisory service which is needed to provide the farmers with relevant information and the cost effectiveness of these chemicals.

Mixed cropping of vegetables and root crops or legumes is prevalent and is seen as a means of minimizing the risk of crop failures or low prices. Inter cropping of vegetables with perennial crops (e.g. coffee, cocoa, citrus) is not widespread as in later years, the perennial crop will prevent the growth of profitable short term crops. Soil conservation practices are being used by 80 per cent of the farmers in the form of terracing and contour planting. However, crop rotation is not used on a planned basis in order to maintain or replenish soil fertility. The farmers view this method as unnecessary as long as they use commercial fertilizer.

2) Harvesting: Harvesting is done mainly by the farmer and his family or workers but may also be done by the higgler under the supervision of the farmer. However, immature crops may be harvested in order to obtain high prices early in the season or to prevent praedial larceny. The wrong tools are being used by some farmers in harvesting vegetables and root crops, for example machette for reaping root crops and vegetables. Sticks are used to pick fruits.

3) Packaging: The fanners and higglers package the vegetables for transport to market in a variety of containers. The most common packing materials are crocus bags, wire-bound chicken boxes and plastic bags. These containers are also overfilled to the point of crushing a large portion of the perishable produce, such as lettuce and other leafy vegetables. Reasons given for this practice are:

a)The transporters of vegetables to the market charge on the basis of the number of bags-boxes and not on the basis of weight; therefore, over-packing leads to more produce per unit container.
b)The market fee is based on a unit cost, i.e. $ 10.00 per piece.
c)The handling charges in the market are also based on a unit cost.

4)Transport: Orders for produce to be taken to the market are usually given out about two weeks in advance by the higglers to a number of farmers. The farmers then harvest, pack and leave the bags by the roadsides to await the higglers transport. In view of the way in which the vegetables are packed and left uncovered in the tropical sun, some degree of postharvest loss must take place. Packing in or on top of the vehicles further add to the level of loss resulting from friction and impact damage as on reaching the market, a substantial portion of the produce must be peeled off and discarded before it is sold. In addition, the produce travels at various times of the day in uncovered vehicles.

5) Marketing: Marketing is a serious problem to the farmers in the area and farmers may lose up to 100 per cent of their produce due to lack of markets. The higglers are responsible for taking the produce from 75 per cent of the farmers out of the area to nearby rural markets or urban cities. Only 15 per cent of the farmers have contractual arrangements with wholesalers and 10 per cent of the farmers market their own produce in similar markets. With regards to the higglers, there are three types:

a) The higglers who are also farmers and sell their own produce.
b) The higglers who sell their own as well as purchase produce from farmers.
c) The higglers who only buy and sell.

A financial problem exists between the farmer and the higgler. The farmers goods are usually taken on "credit" and she/he is not paid until after the higgler returns from the market. The farmer is then paid based on the sale price of the produce and the quantity sold. This is due to the complaint by the higglers of about 50 per cent loss due to improper packing, bad road conditions, lack of transport and other problems. It should be noted that this loss is outside of that compensated by the farmers in an extra 10-20 per cent weight on sale to the higglers.

F. Activities undertaken by the project

The activities undertaken reflect recommended postharvest food loss reduction techniques agreed upon via discussions with the relevant personnel. These are being implemented on a pilot scale to assist in food loss reduction and create awareness among the target/contact farmers and higglers. For full cooperation with these persons and to carry out effective and sustainable postharvest loss reduction techniques, the farmers and higglers must be able to sell at a profit that "extra" amount of food that has been saved from spoilage. Therefore, any new postharvest technique introduced must be cost effective.

Twelve contact farmers and six contact higglers have been identified in the project area according to their geographical spread and the commodities they produce or trade. These persons (two) are chosen every growing season within the year. They are used by the project to disseminate new ideas and knowledge to a wide section of farmers and higglers. The contact groups' farms which are being used for demonstration and training are also carefully located at strategic spots that would allow other farmers (average twelve) easy access from surrounding areas during demonstration and training sessions. In addition, one contact group is not used on a permanent basis so as not to create jealousy among other farmers.

a) Production: In this area, the project is involved in training and advising the farmers in improved cultural practices in row planting, proper spacing, optimum fertilizer use and safe use of agricultural chemicals. Training carried out by the project team takes place on demonstration plots on contact farms. The project provides all the necessary inputs such as good seeds, fertilizer and chemicals for the training sessions. Introduction of new variety of vegetables, such as celery and broccoli, are being grown to demonstrate crop diversification and production for the specialized tourist market. Also, in the area of crop diversification five farmers have been selected for production of one-acre of coffee and twenty farmers have been selected for production of one square chain of land of yarn by the mini-set technique.

Initially, one farm in each district has been selected to demonstrate good farm management practices and soil conservation methods. Leucaena and Pennisetum sp. P.I.3 00086 (Ring grass) are being used to construct contour barriers and plans are being made for the orderly production of crops on yearly basis between the barriers. Crop rotation will be practiced. Again, these farmers are centrally located and therefore should influence other farms with similar conditions.

A detailed calendar of farm operations was prepared by the project staff for the main crops grown in the area. This calendar incorporates cropping seasons, status or each crop, nature of commodity, input requirements and any pressing concerns of farming in the area regarding the commodity. It is extensively used by the project staff in selecting relevant and seasonal extension and postharvest messages and training topics. To date, through the group extension activities a total of 233 farmers have been contacted. This corresponds to the total expected to be trained by this process by the end of the project. Of this number, 141 farmers have had follow up visits.

b) Harvesting: Appropriate tools will be implemented in the harvesting of vegetables and toot crops. Attempts made by the project to persuade the farmers to desist from the use of the machette and fork in harvesting have been discouraging. However, the project plans to purchase and distribute the recommended tools for training and demonstration purposes. These tools are basically knives for harvesting vegetables, harvesting poles for fruits (e.g. ackee) and forks for root crops. The use of forks in the area is by no means new, but they are used exclusively for land preparation.

c) Packaging: The project has purchased 150 plastic stackable crates, which have been distributed to the higglers in the various districts on a loan scheme of six for a period of 4-6 weeks, in order that they identify the effective use of the crates. Instructions on the use of the crates are given, especially that of overpacking which defeats the effect. These crates are being used alongside the traditional packaging materials to highlight the effective use. Preliminary evaluations show only a 4 per cent postharvest weight loss with the use of the plastic crates in comparison to 25 per cent for the traditional packaging materials. These results obtained will be used to create a greater awareness among the farmers and higglers. Some of the higglers to whom the crates were loaned, have profited from the use and therefore are enquiring about the purchase of the crates. Therefore, the project team is negotiating with the relevant authorities on their behalf.

A packaging and temporary storage shed has been established in one district. This shed has a two-fold function and therefore consists of two rooms. One room contains a long table on which produce can be sorted, graded, packaged and weighed. By way of a connecting door, the produce can be moved to the other room which contains wooden pallets on which the packaged produce can be placed for temporary storage while awaiting transport. In this way, the produce is protected from adverse conditions and the shed acts as a convenient central loading point. The shed is enclosed by protection. Ii is hoped that the shed will also act as a buying point between the farmers and higglers, therefore allowing for physical inspection, grading and packaging of produce so as to eliminate the mistrust that exists between the farmers and higglers. As a result, a price could be agreed on before the produce is taken to the market. It is proposed to build similar sheds in the other districts.

G. Transport

Through the Agricultural Marketing Project funded by USAID in 1980-1987, a Peoples Marketing Organization was formed in one of the districts. This organization is similar to a cooperative, consisting of a group of farmers constituted to undertake the marketing of members' crops and to supply production inputs to its members. This organization was provided with a vehicle for transport of the farmers' produce to market sources. At present, the vehicle needs servicing and the project is assisting with its repairs. In return, it will provide transportation of the farmers' produce to the market. In addition, the project will be purchasing five canvas tarpaulins to be loaned to higglers with their own transport on a short term basis for them to see the effect of covering the produce during transport, therefore reducing the level of postharvest loss.

H. Marketing

The project is trying to reduce the market problems of gluts and low paces for the perishable produce being experienced by the farmers and higglers by:

a)Introducing Farmers' Markets on a weekly or biweekly basis in which the farmers are encouraged to sell their produce in large urban centres where more consumers can be reached and possible higher paces received.
b)Establishing purchasing arrangements between wholesalers and the farmers/higglers. The wholesalers are encouraged to come to the project area, therefore eliminating transport problem; in addition, the packaging shed would be fully utilized.
c)Encouraging the production of crops with guaranteed export market, e.g. coffee and yam grown under the mini-set yam technique which is produced for the export trade.

3.14.3 Development of cottage industry

The project staff has investigated the possibility of introducing the concept of food processing as a means of reducing postharvest loss in the community. However, due to the type of produce grown (mainly vegetables), not much can be done. This explains the emphasis of the project to reduce damage and assist with marketing.

Contents - Previous - Next