Over 20,000 people last weekend visited the Agri Investment Forum and Expo II at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
The event handed several small businesses the opportunity to set up displays alongside some better-known names, all in a bid to enhance interest in Agriculture investment and expansion in the region.
For small business owners, it was unprecedented and much-welcomed.
“It was a very well put (together) Expo for agriculture, highlighting small businesses such as ours. And the exposure that we got from that was phenomenal. We met with a lot of potential clients, both locally and regionally. And we look forward to doing work with them to showcase what we can do in terms of technological agriculture,” said Alex Jones, managing director of Ariaponics, a company created to provide technological agricultural services to the Caribbean, such as greenhouses.
“We build hydroponic systems, we build aquaponic systems. And we are also engaged in solar power systems as well. We provide training, we provide all of the equipment that you need to get growing in a soilless medium. And we have been part of the exploration lead demonstrating a fully functional, solar-powered greenhouse. So, we are located in South Trinidad and we do work in Trinidad, Tobago, Antigua, St. Vincent, Bahamas, and also Guyana,” Jones told the Business Guardian (BG).
The company, which was formed in 2016, was invited to be a part of the Expo, having been recognised as a service provider for hydroponics for greenhouses by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Throughout the weekend, Jones and his team met with four different regional leaders, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali, St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves as well as Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley.
However he said the interactions with farmers proved just as exciting for the Ariaponics team.
“We had a lot of potential farmers who want to get involved in agriculture, visiting and seeing hydroponics and our greenhouse. So this expo, exceeded our expectations. My voice is still sore coming out of it with the amount of interactions that was there, it truly was an expo to behold, regarding the interaction and seeing how many people wanted to get involved in agriculture,” said Jones.
He explained his booth was especially appealing to farmers who were seeking solutions to our shifting climate as well as the recent spate of power outages in the country.
“Because of our current weather patterns, we have a lot of rain in the dry season and then we have a lot of sun in the rainy season, our weather patterns are changing. And because of that, farmers are losing a lot of crops. They can’t predict the weather to try to get a proper gauge on how to grow their crops. Because of that they are looking to do crops now under a greenhouse to get more protection. Because of that now, they’re looking for us to build these greenhouses as we provide a high-quality service for them,” he said.
He added, “Also, regarding things like power outages and power failures, a lot of these farmers who are growing crops in a hydroponics environment need a reliable, consistent power supply, even if it’s some sort of backup or that they’re looking into solar power. So we are trying to provide those solutions for those farmers to protect against inconsistent weather patterns and power outages that we have. So they looked at us to solve those problems for them.”
The solar generation option has become crucial, as Jones noted several farmers suffered in the wake of February’s nationwide blackout which resulted in the death of several fish at Aquaponics farms.
“We highlighted back in February, those aquaculture farmers and those fish farmers who lost those fish and their produce basically because to start back up an aquaculture farm, it is very difficult. So we highlighted those issues and concerns,” he said.
Jones explained the event allowed the Ariaponics team to launch collaborations with other companies to provide new services for farmers.
“Coming out of this expo, you’re going to see a lot of collaborations with Ariaponics, Elcics Limited, Ramoutar’s Electrical, and other companies to provide a holistic turn-key type operation for farmers for solar-powered greenhouses, solar power hydroponic systems, solar assisted aquaponic system, “ he said, adding that their services appealed to non-farmers as well.
“Coming out of things like what we saw here, having a total nationwide blackout, you know, so we are working towards providing that for farmers. And it also extends to residential customers and commercial customers. Because solar power doesn’t only work for farming, it works for homes and buildings as well. So we are looking to get into that market and we have some leads (which show us) some people want it right now.”
Jones said as a result the company would look to get into the residential and commercial solar power business, as well as another new lane: Indoor farming.
“I have to go to a job site as we speak to visit a warehouse where they want to do indoor growing. So a lot of people who may have buildings under-utilised looking to get into farming indoors. We are going to be exploring those avenues bigger locally,” Jones told the Business Guardian.
He, however, made a call for the government to provide more opportunities for hydroponic farmers.
“I would like to see our local hydroponics farmers get access to the land that they need to expand their farms to contribute to food security in Trinidad and Tobago. Our hydroponics farmers require land space to expand out to get growing to help reduce our food import bill,” he said.
The expo also provided a health launch pad for Woodsman Caribbean Limited’s Betta Life Club.
The group spent the weekend at the expo promoting its unique blend of sugar-free organic juices.
“We process a range of value-added products. We are located in the Moruga Agro-processing park,” said Kealan Stewart, Marketing Manager of Woodsman Caribbean Limited.
The Betta Life club serves as the marketing arm of the company which focuses on producing healthy foods and drinks.
“We produce a range of value-added foods that will firstly attract people who are interested in living healthy lifestyles and we promote under the Betta Life Club brand. We are seeking to have people who either wish to live healthy lifestyles or are having difficulty doing so by providing them with wide range of food products which are not only healthy but are produced in safe conditions. We seek to promote them by having customers become members of the club. So this expo gave us an opportunity to bring that to the attention of thousands of people who passed through the event. For us, it was very useful. We actually had a significant number of persons signing up to become members of the club,” said Stewart.
The company had seen the promotion for the expo in the media but had been encouraged by the Ministry of Trade to be a part of the event.
Stewart felt the Expo should become an annual event, as it served as a major boost for small businesses.
“We think it is something that perhaps should be done on an annual basis, it provides a significant opportunity for especially SMEs who are unable to afford the commercial type promotional programmes,” he said.