Bunny gives back to the needy

Some of the produce inside a Bunny Imports and Exports hamper.
Some of the produce inside a Bunny Imports and Exports hamper.

Jai Rampersad, general manager of Bunny Imports and Exports Ltd (Bunny), a company situated at the Macoya Industrial Estate that has had success over its ten years in existence, says his business just wants to give back to TT.

He said: “We’ve been doing a lot of assistance, doing our corporate social responsibility, giving back to schools, kids in need, and assisting with the Canadian Women’s Club (CWC) initiative.”

Roger Obrien and Jai Rampersad of Bunny Imports and Exports Ltd left, presents Shirley Pluthero and Lynn Murray of CWC with hampers for distribution last Thursday.

Since 1941, the CWC has been raising funds to assist the needy, with some 484 organisations benefiting to date.

Bunny is one of the largest distribution companies for fruit and vegetables throughout the Caribbean, with a distribution chain that includes supermarkets, hotels and caterers.

Jai Rampersad, general manager of Bunny Imports and Exports Ltd.

The company has been partnering with the CWC for the past four months, giving five hampers of produce a month. But Rampersad and the company's management have now decided to give ten hampers a month. They will be distributed to needy families and establishments.

Rampersad, who is also the strategic advisor to the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) director general, said he has been developing agriculture throughout the Caribbean as well, and knowing that Bunny has been doing so well, “That’s why we wanted to give back to those in need. That’s why this is one such initiative, in addition to other schools or other agencies that require assistance. We receive different letters, we review them and put it in a priority listing and then we give out.”

Apart from the ongoing commitment to the CWC, Rampersad said: “On an as-needed basis, we have been doing a lot of work...one such initiative was with UWI, where agriculture is concerned. I am a former lecturer at UWI and the dean, Dr Ganpat, came to me and said they wanted to re-showcase local agriculture and I said, 'No problem.' Bunny Imports and Exports did an entire booth there, showcasing local agriculture, and that was quite successful.”

He said Bunny’s core business is an import and distribution company but it also liaises with a lot of farmers. “We’ve dealt with some farmers from Manzanilla, as part of our import substitution drive, whereby we actually got them to grow things like cantaloupes.”

He added, Bunny has dealt with about ten different agriculture farming groups for the drive.

Bunny Imports and Exports hampers stacked up for distribution.

Asked if the farmers it deals with have had flooding problems, Rampersad said: “Floods may have affected them sometimes, but we have had a number of issues with some of the local produce, not only with natural disasters but just with general supply, quality, pricing issues, consistency of supply – and that’s why we couldn’t go full-blown into the import substitution.

“We also partnered with several other companies that were trying similar initiatives as well, but it’s still an ongoing process in developing that part of local agriculture.”

Bunny also has initiatives in other countries such as St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia, which he said have been a bit more successful in developing agriculture.

Rampersad said on a personal basis, he assists a lot of the agriculture ministers throughout the Caribbean, has presented a brand-new economic model to some of them, and is helping to strategically develop agriculture and support structures in their countries.

“I work closely with the IICA (Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture) and several other Caribbean institutions that are actually developing agriculture from that holistic respect.

"But we (Bunny) have been doing pretty well, and my passion, and as I said my background is lecturing in this field prior to being in Bunny, so I really want to see the agriculture industry really reach that international standard that we really should be at and we have not been at, for a number of years.”

Rampersad said one of the main reasons for not being able to access the international market is that TT does not meet a lot of the international market requirements.

“Most of the agriculture products here do not reach that quality standard, not because they are not there, but because they are not certified. They have not done the proper reporting standards. They have not been accredited by these different international organisations and as such we cannot access a lot of those markets.

"However, in that model that I came up with, instead of investing only in production, we actually need to develop those support structures.”

He said one minister, Sabato Caesar in St Vincent, invested heavily in developing that support structure and within three months that country started to export four 40-foot containers of dasheen over a four month period. "Working along with the minister and SVG's Agri Shipping Initiative they were able to export four containers of dasheen from St Vincent to Miami due to improvement in packaging, certifications and shipping logistics.

“So getting the industry ready for the market is exactly what they need: getting everybody certified and getting proper post-harvesting as well.”

Post-harvesting Rampersad said, is the process of maintaining the quality and extending the shelf life of fresh agriculture produce and this can be achieved through better handling practices, packaging and utilisation of agricultue technology such as hydro-cooling and food grade waxing.

Rampersad added, his ultimate goal is to see the people of the Caribbean reach that international standard and access markets as the developed world do.

“I really want to see the people of the Caribbean grow, I want to see them really develop to the point of that first-world status and be able to access some of those same benefits that first world nations receive.

"And that’s why Bunny is the start of the process, but there’s so much more in terms of policy-making in terms of other initiatives from similar companies that really needs to be done. It’s a holistic aspect: it’s not even from a TT aspect, it’s really from a regional aspect.”

He said he’s getting a lot of support from several other regional countries including St Lucia and St Vincent, and he hopes that cohesion will continue to bring agriculture, the farmers and the general people of the Caribbean up to first-world status.

“It’s really good to look at corporate social responsibility, look to help those in need, because at the end of the day we are one people and I really want to see the upliftment of one people.”

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