<B>New chairman of the Agricultural Marketing Board (AMB) </B>

<B>You have just been appointed chairman of the Agricultural Marketing Board (AMB). How do you feel about it? </B>

Well, it's a great honour for me to be assigned the task of instigating new ways of thinking and driving this organisation in the light of what is happening in agro-industry - the lowering of the price of sugar coming gradually in the next four years by 36%. So we must find ways of compensating for this lack of revenue. AMB is supposed to play its part. I am glad to take the responsibility of such a challenge.

<B> What is the role of the AMB in the Mauritian economy? </B>

AMB is supposed be a regulator of prices of commodities such as potatoes, garlic, onions,etc. in the sense that, when we import these vegetables, we make sure we do it with a minimum profit. Hence, people tend to buy vegetables from AMB rather than in markets where profit-making is the aim. At the same time AMB ensures a continuous supply of these commodities to prevent a scarcity of vegetables. To do this AMB has many cold rooms in various regions.

<B>When was the AMB set up? </B>

It was set up in 1963 by the British. Unfortunately, now in 2006, the law creating it has never been amended. We cannot continue like that as we cannot do the same marketing with new trends such as globalisation and the dismantling of trade barriers. Nowadays we need a more ?aggressive strategy?. This would facilitate the lives of small planters and other stakeholders to export their vegetables. As a marketing agent, it is a major task for AMB.

<B> Do you think that, so far, AMB has improved? </B>

Yes, before, there was a lack of potatoes, onions and other commodities. Now, we have a proper planning, cold storage and buffer stocks since 1998 to prevent scarcities. But a ceiling has been set for the prices, which have never increased. And now AMB is running on deficit, because of the foreign currency.

<B>How is AMB peforming with globalization? </B>

Globalization is having a positive effect with the expansion of the market. In fact, if the small planters produce commodities of good quality, AMB must enlarge the fields of export. And, instead of sticking to potatoes and onions, we should aim for other things. We also have a good relationship with many countries such as India, South Africa and Australia. Hence, globalisation can be seen as a great help?we must make the most of it!

<B>What are your plans for the AMB? </B>

First of all, in the coming months I want to set a marketing intelligence unit on a pilot basis. This feature will help us to get data and information for small planters and distill this information to the stakeholders of the agricultural world. This will involve a lot of help from the media. The second thing is that we will work with the export processing unit in close collaboration with Entreprise Mauritius. This will help farmers to produce quality commodities and export their products. We will give them facilities. We will also try to set up some extra selling units for our products and thus become more accessible.