The Government of Guyana has appointed Teshwana Lall as the General Manager of the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC), a statement issued by the Department of Public Information Monday said.
Lall replaces former General Manager Ida Sealey-Adams.
Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha met with the newly appointed Board of Directors of GMC and charged the new members to find innovative ways of promoting local products.
“This is a very important organisation in the Ministry of Agriculture. As Minister, I would like to see the agency embark on new and innovative ways to market Guyana’s products and dealing with our farmers’ produce. As the persons involved in making critical decisions relating to this agency, we have to ensure that we have the trust of the farmers. We also have to ensure we make the sector attractive. I want to see a revamping of the policies of the New GMC,” Minister Mustapha said.
Mustapha said that GMC must develop new mechanisms geared at finding markets for farmers’ produce.
“As challenging as it may be, farmers are looking forward to the Ministry to assist them with finding markets for their produce. I think that over the years, many farmers would have produced significantly, but due to the decline in markets and prices for their produce, many farmers would’ve downscaled or come out of agriculture all together. We are now tasked with encouraging them to get back into the fields and show that markets are and will be available,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Board of Directors, David Fernandes said he plans to work to ensure the New GMC is able to execute its mandate, while coming up with innovative ways to market farmers’ and agro-processors’ products.
“We need to regain trust in the farmers in order to improve those relationships. We will also be working to change some of the policies regarding the way GMC operates. We’ll be addressing value chain and a number of other areas. Inter-agency sales are also welcomed. I know it’s not something necessarily done but I’m happy about that,” Mr. Fernandes said.
Other members of GMC Board of Directors are Brian Sears, Gerald Gouveia Jr., Rajeundra Singh, Syied Ibrahim, Venkat Narasan, George Jervis, Natasha Beerjit-Deonarine, Aditya Persaud, Faizal Jafferally, Jaideo Sookhoo, Yvonne Pearson and Teshawna Lall (GM/ex-officio member).
