Business Opportunities – Agriculture – Niche Markets

As we continue to look at viable business ventures in agriculture in Jamaica we come to the area of niche markets. The idea here is to produce an item in which we have an advantage and which can fetch a premium price overseas or locally.

The first area is that of organic farming which is growing crops without the use/minimal use of pesticides or fertilizer. There is a growing demand from persons who are health conscious for food without preservative and pesticide free. Many of the visitors to the shores as well want organic food and it is likely that this sector of the market will continue to grow. This is evidenced by the growing number of vegetarian stores and restaurants in Jamaica as well as internationally. One of the fastest growing areas of demand in agriculture is for coconut water and oil. The world has now realized that coconuts contain little or no cholesterol and now this is seen as something for a healthy life but where is our industry? We make a wide variety of juices that could be sold worldwide, one example is sorrel.

Blue Mountain coffee

The failure to sell Wallenford raises the issue of why no one sees the potential for selling Blue Mountain coffee. Blue Mountain coffee is one of the best coffees in the world and all that is needed is a good sales plan in order to reach the target markets. The amount that we can produce is so small compared to the total world demand for coffee that sale of the produce should be easy to accomplish.  Cocoa can be added to the list and once again we have some of the finest cocoa in the world. The problem here is in the marketing of the product as the amount we produce could easily be sold. Other products of a similar nature are pimento and ginger where we have the finest in the world but fail to take advantage of the opportunities.

There is a worldwide need for ground provisions such as cassava, cocoa, dasheen, yam and potato. In addition beans of all types are in demand and can be readily grown in Jamaica. The problem is not in finding products but lies in the attitudes of investors who do not see business opportunities in agriculture. They want to make money from agriculture by trading futures but not by actually producing anything. The problem with that philosophy is that when it is combined with a growing worldwide population it only leads to one result – famine.