BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (GIS) – Local manufacturers have been challenged to help fuel the re-industrialisation of Barbados by creating innovative products, so that it can become a beacon for the rest of the Caribbean.
This challenge was thrown out by minister of Innovation, Industry, Science and Technology (MIST), Senator Jonathan Reid, as he addressed the opening of the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association’s (BMA) International Business Conference and Trade and Innovation Expo at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre (LESC) on Wednesday night.
Senator Reid lauded the BMA’s Ration Pack Initiative, which was created in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus. The innovative, home-grown initiative focuses on the production of nutritious ready-to-eat meals, which are produced with local inputs. In the event of a natural disaster, the ration packs are expected to offer communities immediate access to safe, nourishing, and locally produced food.
The MIST minister said the goal was to make Barbados a global hub for the research and development of the global nutrition economy.
“We saw an opportunity to position Barbados as a space where it would focus on the highest form of value of production, which is really the innovation component of it. So, we challenged BIDC with its Food and Science Centre and its CEO, Mark Hill, to come up with a series of innovative projects as soon as possible.
“We converted squash grown here, dehydrated it, created a powder and converted it into squash pasta which we could include in the ration pack. So, the idea is, how do we use things that we already import, [so] that we could leverage an opportunity to showcase the highest value of ideation for the purpose of tapping into something that the scale is beyond our shores?” Mr. Reid explained.
He said the key to growing economies was vibrant industries, citing countries such as China and Singapore as having thriving economies because they placed emphasis on industry. However, he said Barbados’ industrial scale was only somewhere between seven and 10 percent. He said this was as a result of the country shifting its focus away from industry.
“The potential for exponential growth [of the local industrial sector] from the 90s and beyond didn’t quite happen as a result…. The core of engineering, designing and manufacturing our products and creating new patents, all those things that are fundamental to high-value economies we have shifted away from, and it is time we refocus on the re-industrialisation of Barbados,” he emphasised.
In order to achieve this, he suggested the country focus on creating export-oriented zones, adding there must also be industrial capital and credit and trade finance; logistics and trade connectivity; tech capital; and human capital – using academia to help build technology and address the needs of industry.
Nadine Benn-Greaves, operations manager with the Centre for Commercial Analytical Services (CCAS), an arm of the UWI, disclosed that the Ration Pack Initiative would be expanding from being just a lunch product, to a breakfast and dinner product as well.
She said the role of CCAS, which is working with the BMA, was to provide technical services for the initiative including sensory analysis, packaging and nutritional content, so that the product would not only cater to the local market but also be ready for export.
Benn-Greaves pointed out that the Ration Pack Initiative would be good for Barbados’ food security and food sovereignty, since local produce is being used. The Ration Pack will be launched during the Trade and Innovation Expo, which takes place at LESC from June 7 to 9.
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