Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 3rd Edition

Our Competitive Advantage 76

on distribution logistics as shipping from the Caribbean is very expensive. It's not a significant transportation route; therefore, sea and air freight become quite costly. To overcome these challenges, Parasram indicates that he is finding creative solutions and continually tweaking and improving their way of working at Trinidad & Tobago Fine Cocoa Company. He is working more closely with cocoa farmers and partnering up with the Trinidad & Tobago government which allowed the company to build a large- scale industrial cocoa processing facility at La Reunion Estate in exchange for sharing their expertise with other cocoa estate farmers. Other important partners include the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Cocoa Research Centre of the University of West Indies. Under a three-year program titled Improving Marketing and Production of Artisanal Cocoa from Trinidad & Tobago (IMPACTT), his company has teamed up to "develop standards, a chain-of- custody system, a certification system and a range of marketing tools to aid growers in selling their beans for the highest value." Parasram hopes all of these efforts will go a long way towards developing a robust economic model that will benefit more cocoa farmers and increase the annual output in Trinidad & Tobago from 500 tons to 1,000 tons a year

by 2020. This goal is aggressive, but not unrealistic as at the beginning of the 19 th century, Trinidad &Tobago produced 30,000 tons of fine flavor cocoa annually. By leveraging their success in Trinidad & Tobago, Parasram hopes this will encourage more cocoa farmers and artisan chocolatiers across the Caribbean region to share experiences and form partnerships as closer collaboration means a greater awareness of Caribbean fine flavor cocoa and ultimately more demand at fairer prices. For this to happen, Parasram indicates that there would need to be a change in mindset, "so whether it's a lack of trust or lack of collaboration - that needs to go. It's our mindset that tends to hold us back more than anything else. So, you have to trust other people. Trust other businesses and work collaboratively to achieve the goal of increasing production and profits." Without the change in mindset and further cooperation, the industry will remain at a standstill.

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