The Bequia Dynamic Investors (BDI) youth in agriculture group advanced their income and employment venture one step further with a product development working session on Saturday 25th June, 2025. The group benefited from the training and advice offered by two food technologists from the Ministry of Agriculture in developing their mango and tamarind sauces and syrups. The group will conduct product sampling among target customers and further tweak their recipes in the coming weeks. Two youths from sister youth-in-agriculture organisations (Innovative Youth Agribusiness Multipurpose Cooperative (IYAMCO) and Infusion .co) also participated in the session.

This product development working session will be repeated with four other groups that are currently benefiting from the Youth Agri-entrepreneurship for Rural Development project. This project is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and National Mobilisation (Youth Affairs Department) and funded by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisations. It aims to bolster young agri-entrepreneurs' production capacity and competitiveness by improving access to lands, facilities, equipment, skill development and seed capital.

Beneficiary groups have so far received training in value chain analysis and business planning from international consultants and have all advanced work on their business models. During the month of June, IYAMCO and the Youth Agribusiness Multipurpose Cooperative (YAMCO) have also made progress in re-establishing/establishing their farm plots.

The next sets of training by project consultants will focus on Financial Planning, Marketing and branding. In addition, work will also be advanced on the development of a marketing App in the coming months

SOURCE: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry & Labour