PR – The Democratic People’s Movement (DPM) says rebuilding an effective national agricultural marketing system will be a priority during its first 100 days in office, promising decisive action to reconnect Grenada’s farmers with hotels, supermarkets and other major buyers.
DPM Chairman Alister “Archie” Bain made the commitment during the MTV Community Forum, arguing that the prolonged uncertainty surrounding the former Marketing and National Importing Board (MNIB) has left a critical gap in Grenada’s agricultural sector.
“The Marketing Board has been shut down for over three years,” Bain said. “How long is that review gonna take?”
The Dickon Mitchell administration announced in February 2023 that MNIB would be wound down and that a new public-private structure would be established within six months.
The government subsequently established Import-Export Agromart (IMEXA) Ltd. as a replacement, but the reform process has experienced significant delays.
Bain said a DPM administration, headed by MP Peter David as Prime Minister, would move beyond simply reopening the old institution.
Instead, DPM would ensure that the outstanding review is completed and that “an entity that provides that aggregation of agricultural produce would be established,” he explained.
Bain said such an entity would allow farmers to collectively supply large buyers, without individual producers having to negotiate separately with hotels and supermarkets.
“We need to review, we need to restructure, we need to reposition, we need to rebrand,” he added.
A modern agricultural marketing and aggregation system, under DPM, would help increase market access, strengthen food security and create opportunities for greater value-added processing of Grenada’s agricultural products, said Bain.
According to Bain, reforming of the Marketing Board by DPM is not simply an institutional exercise—it is central to The Movement’s “Food That Feeds Us” vision for a stronger, more self-sufficient agricultural economy.
