A fruit and vegetable cutting workshop inaugurated in Guyana

Melon cubes packaged in trays. The staff of the Midi Caraïbe company have been hard at work since yesterday, Tuesday November 5. A new fruit and vegetable cutting workshop has been inaugurated in Degrad-des-Cannes. “I cut the melons and fill the punnets,” comments Josiane, employee.

Specializing in the wholesale trade of fruits and vegetables, the Midi Caribbean company is further developing its wholesale activity with this new offer.

“It is the only unit in Guyana that cuts fruit and vegetables at an industrial level, announces Philipe Kesteloot, director of the Midi Caribbean company and director of the fresh cutting workshop. We want to promote local products and encourage people to consume them.”.

In the workshop, staff take care of whole crates of Guyana melons. “The team refines the peelingexplains Philipe Kesteloot, director of the Midi Caribbean company. She removes the seeds and puts the melon through the machine which cuts them into cubes. They are received in bins to be packaged.. The oxygen is then removed and the nitrogen injected so that the product has a shelf life of 6 or 7 days.

“We discover the tools and the cutting work, it’s a challenge”, enthuses Louis-Joseph Eddy, production manager at the workshop.

With this cutting unit, the Midi Caribbean company aims to “objective of supplying communities and school canteens in Guyana from Saint-Georges to Cayenne, as far as Saint-Laurent du Maroni”.

We also want to supply medium and large retailers. It's for the individual who doesn't want to cut their carrot or sweet potato and who can go home with their tray of grated green papaya.

Philippe Kesteloot, director of the Midi Caribbean company

The objective of the workshop is to produce 4,000 to 5,000 punnets of 100 grams per day of cut fruits or vegetables. “Our production tool can work 1,000 kilos per hour, from raw product to packaged product”, added Philippe Kesteloot.

The company employs 36 people in Guyana and has recruited six new people in this cutting workshop. “Processing brings added value to local production, assures Philippe Kesteloot, director of the Midi Caribbean company. We promote Guyanese fruits and vegetables and we also promote products which are sometimes poorly known and not easy to work with.

According to him, it is also a “additional outlet for agriculture”. To create this cutting workshop, the company invested 1.4 million euros, one million of which was financed by the State and the Recovery plan.