Baptiste Wants Better Local Branding

Details

Economy

Wednesday, 27 February 2013 02:30

By Delana Isles

Antigua St. John's - Local producers of poultry and other products are being urged to step up their game if they are serious about marketing their products in Antigua & Barbuda.

Agriculture Minister Hilson Baptiste recently voiced his dissatisfaction with the way locally produced items are labelled and branded. He said on an ABS broadcast that this is taking away from the products’ marketability.

“Our local branding is important, because when you go in the supermarket, you buy with your eyes... so we have to be able to brand our items better and market them better...” the minister said.

He added that attractive labelling could entice residents and others to invest in local produce.

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According to the minister, supermarkets have already agreed to delegate sections of their stores to local products.  He wants processors to work together so there is one identifiable brand. He cited the situation with poultry producers.

“When you have 100 persons producing chicken, and nobody wants to work with nobody, we have a hundred different brands,” the minister noted. “Why don’t we come together and have one brand and market it properly?”

Poultry producers were also encouraged to raise the standard of their produce, as, according to Baptiste, imported chicken is not as healthy as it may appear, due to chemical enhancements. He noted the high mortality rate for chicks imported from the United States.

The Agriculture ministry announced earlier this year that it intends to accelerate its buy local campaign, as producers are making their goods available, but consumers are not buying them on the same scale as imports.

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