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More varieties of sweet potatoes being planted in Antigua & Barbuda

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“This particular sweet potato that you see we are doing here is a part of a CDB Project that we are now implementing within the region. It’s funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and the countries are Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia.”

Those remarks were made by CARDI Technician, Bradbury Browne recently at the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) Headquarters where the project is being undertaken.

This project comprises a germplasm collection of twelve (12) different varieties of sweet potato and Browne noted that they are in the process of maintaining the more popular varieties so that farmers can come and get planting material.

The CARDI technician said that part of this project is geared a lot towards value added products.

“The flour, the mash, the french fries , the chips;  so we are trying to develop the value-added industry around this particular project,  rather than just planting the sweet potato just for the normal culinary things.”

The importance of the value added aspect of this production is two-fold- according to Browne.

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It reduces dependency on flour for bread making activities, the french fries and the chips and it is also a healthier product in terms of the bread.

“So rather than you eating bread with 100 per cent wheat or white flour, this composite bread now has in 60 per cent sweet potato, even the cassava too, so it’s a more healthier product and it reduces our dependency on wheat flour.”

In addition, Browne noted that they have a particular variety of sweet potato at CARDI which is the Beauregard.   This is mainly used for bread making activity.

“And that seems to be doing well, as a matter of fact, the Ministry of Agriculture had this programme where they were making the bread and every time they have it, it’s oversubscribed, so it’s something that the community wants, but it’s just that we need some farmers to grow it so that it can be processed and readily available for bread making.”

Browne explained that the objective of this project is to have clean, planting material and different varieties because different varieties do well at different times of the year.

“They have some that are drought tolerant; they have some that they only grow well in the short day/ long night, cool night kind of environment; so it’s important to have an assortment of varieties that you can actually produce sweet potatoes all year round.”

And we also learned that sweet potato has some interesting names like the hurricane, mandela, king crown, purple queen, chicken foot and black rock, just to name a few.

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REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in MSME lending. Applicants should also have:
  • The ability to design and implement risk management procedures 
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME banking operations
  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
  • Experience developing and presenting information in public, including responding to questions in real-time
  • Experience lending to MSMEs located in the ECCU
  • Knowledge of marketing and communicating with the MSME sector
  • Ability to draft procedures to be used in a lending operation
  • Familiarity with the mechanics of a loan guarantee program
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite.

The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]