Blog Post 2
By: Kirsten Davidson
Day 1
Today I woke up to a rooster at 5:30 am. I guess that is the time I will now be starting my mornings. Today was the first day, the starting point. We met with amazing people that welcomed us and gave us advice about the school and about our future endeavors. Next our mentor took us to see the kitchen where we will be working on the product development for the next week. The last thing on the to-do list for the day was to go to the supermarkets and see the market segment and competitors for banana wine.
From a Canadian prospective I noticed that most of the stores do not promote local products. I mentioned that the stores should give extra points rewards out to the customers that do buy local. And that the stores should be putting local products on eye level shelves as the companies do not pay for shelf space.
Day 2
Making banana wine. We went to the school kitchen and helped the students prepare the wine. I learned that there was some miscommunication between both teachers. But we still made it work and got the wine made. Now we just must wait to see how it tastes. I can’t wait to try it in 35days!
Day 3
For one of the classes students must make a product for their own business plan. Today Macy and I prepared a video for them about food safety and had an activity where they had to identify the hazards in the kitchen. Next, we helped them break down their product. We got them to write down what inputs they would use, where to get it from and how much it would cost. Next, we had them look up their target markets and competitors. Over the next few weeks we will be helping them go over the four p’s (product, promotion, price, place).
In the afternoon we went up to explore the upper farm land. This is where we learned about the banana crops getting taken out and seeing how they deal with farming in such a hillside landscape. We also took a tour of the Montreal gardens. It was so beautiful with these bright flowers. On our way back we stopped at a look out to take a few pictures. Here is where all the school children came up to us. They were amazing. For about forty minutes they played with our hair and braided it. Then we taught them how to play a wheel borrow race. All of them wanted to try it out and see who would win. It was amazing to be around such wonderful kids. They were so kind they didn’t want us to go. Moments like these that are so unexpected and unique are the moments that I will remember most about my experience. And to think I wanted to stay in my comfort zone and work at home....
Day 4
Today the students at the technical college were slaughtering chickens as part of their class. We were asked to come and observe to make note of some food safety hazards that could arise with the way they were preparing the chickens. Next, we worked on a questionnaire to give to restaurants and hotels in the surrounding area to do market research about their wines and potentially carrying the banana wine at their business.
Week 2
Day 1
Today was the first day of a new placement. Once again having a pit in my stomach. My mentor took me to the boss who is in the city. Then I was to go all the way up into the hills to meet with the person in charge of me for the next two weeks. He was very friendly, and we talked for over two hours about what my interests were and what I wanted to get from the internship. We then went to the area where the raw products are inspected and shipped out to different counties.
Week 2 and 3
Over the past two weeks I have been visiting farms around the island with different officers of the ministry of agriculture. During the weeks I have come to understand and appreciate the farmers that work in this country. The island is very mountainous which means all the farming is done manually and takes a lot more time than it would in Canada. Some of the struggles the farmers have is the dry seasons which will affect the quality and the number of crops that they can harvest and sell. I have come to understand that many farmers do not have the means to invest in an irrigation system even if they had help from the government.
Struggles
Other struggles farmers have is the pollution. When I went out to the fields, I noticed that tires would be burning right near the crops and waste like metals with rust is right next to the farms. The island does not have a lab that can-do soil testing as of right now but will be up and running soon.
Farmers are also finding it difficult to get their products into the supermarkets because the traders in the middle will only pay them the lowest possible price. Which if the farmers make little if any profit does not help them in the long run. If farmers know they will not be making enough profit in order to cover the input costs they will either burn their crop or just leave it for animals to eat.
I also visited farms that have been proactive about problems happening on the island. Some farmers have gotten into making their own greenhouses, using solar panels and doing crop rotation. A few farmers also will planet more than one item that way they will always be bringing in money. A few farms have started using compost rather than using chemicals on the fields. Some farmers are even using their compost to use the methane gas to use for cooking.
Over the last three weeks I have had the opportunity to understand the differences between the farming styles in Canada compared to Saint Vincent. I realized that Saint Vincent has issues that is not easily fixed such as cost of labor, over saturated markets and safety standards and regulations that are not in place. I have also been using my business plans I have made in this previous year to help guide the students while they make their own business plans for their own products.
The Coming Weeks
In the weeks to come I will be working closely with the students on their business plan. I will also be working for a company by the name of Vincy Fresh. The company is locally based and uses produce to make sauces which they sell in the supermarkets. I will be learning the way they get their products from the farmers. Another thing I will be looking at is how they produce the end product such as labeling and getting it to the shelves in stores.
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