CMC poised to open wholesale outlet

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Renovation work to transform the old Pizza Hut building on Fort Road that will serve as a wholesale outlet for the Central Marketing Corporation (CMC) has been completed.
The outlet will be utilised as a distribution centre for staples such as rice, sugar, and flour and will allow for further expansion of the services offered at CMC’s lower Market Street location.
Junior Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Samantha Marshall said the workmen are now in the process of retrofitting the building which will be opened within weeks.
“We just received the furniture and the computers, and telephones will be installed shortly,” Marshall said. “So, we are hoping, if not by the end of March, by early April we will have the actual opening.”
Minister Marshall said the unit will also be equipped with cold storage units for meats and vegetables.
The units will prove beneficial for farmers who have been lamenting the lack of such facilities for years.
“We will be able to establish a closer relationship with the local farmers to bring them on board so we can reduce the importation of those items,” Marshall said.
Meantime, the General Manager of the statutory corporation, Heatherlyn Millet said the expansion is part of an overall plan to reposition CMC to better fulfil its mandate.
“We want to use CMC as a tool to market what we produce. Not just taking it from the farmer and putting it on the shelves, we are going to be repackaging, upgrading the way we do things,” she said.
Thousands of dollars will also be spent to repair the existing plant located on lower Market Street.      
In recent weeks, CMC has ramped up its marketing efforts to assist local farmers and customers.
Close to a week ago, a team was assembled to participate in a marketing blitz to promote a special brand of peppers which had not been available on the local market.
The purple bell peppers were introduced to the other types that were cultivated in a protective environment with the use of greenhouse technology.

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