About Grenada Network of Rural Women Producers  (GRENROP)

• Company status: Nongovernmental organisation (NGO)
• Year of registration : 2005
• Number of employees: 68 members, of whom 80% are women and 20% youth; a management team of 11 people.
• Business sector: Producing and processing agricultural commodities.

 Theresa Marryshow – President

Theresa Marryshow is a retired agricultural officer with 42 years of experience working in the Ministry of Agriculture of Grenada. She entered the service of the Government of Grenada in 1977 starting as a Junior Agricultural Officer. In 1993 she became District Supervisor in four districts (North, South, East, West) until her retirement in 2015. She also worked for one year for an agricultural radio programme preparing agricultural scripts.

A graduate from the Mirabeau Farm Campus from the T.A. Marryshow Community College, Grenada, Theresa has continuously deepened her knowledge on various fields by attending several study programmes and classes. These include attending in 1993 the Agricultural Extension programme from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Trinidad and Tobago, as well as classes on temperature and proper storage for vegetables and fruits at the University of California in Davis, USA; and on women in development at the Jackson State University, USA.

Theresa’s personal motto is to empower rural women to improve their livelihood. To this end, she founded GRENROP and has been its president since the inception. Her leadership is fuelled by her wide professional and travel experience across the Caribbean, the USA, as well as Asia (India, China and Taiwan).

Business model

GREENROP aims to establish self-sufficiency in Grenada by providing a higher quality of fresh produce and agro-processed products.

Formed in 2002 and officially registered in 2005, GRENROP was created to provide (technical) assistance to women farmers as they account for the majority of the farmers in the country. The cooperative nowadays comprises of women farmers and agro processors, as well as part-time farmers (seasonal).

GRENROP aims to help its members improve their farming methods, post harvesting techniques and ultimately, their livelihoods. The cooperative organises trainings to encourage farmers to cultivate organically as much as possible and in various agro-processing skills to prepare new products. They also provide agricultural inputs, seedlings, agro-processing equipment and others to members.

Moreover, GRENROP secures funds by writing project proposals and answering calls of proposal. Lastly, they enable networking, as well as cultural and agricultural exchanges among their network.

Since its inception, GRENROP has become one of the main local suppliers of fresh products, including to luxury resorts and hotels, helping to foster the linkages among agriculture and tourism.

GRENROP is an affiliate of the Caribbean Network of Rural Women Producers (CANROP), as the Grenada chapter.

Relationships with the community

GRENROP assists its members with specific farm techniques to improve their sustainable production, such as rainwater harvesting for irrigation and training on composting to encourage the use of organic practices. Their members recently completed a six-week training course for post-harvest technology, record keeping, farm management, compost making and pest and disease control. The organisation also supports farmers through cultural exchanges and in developing their farms.

Moreover, GRENROP coordinates the planting schedules of the crops to ensure consistent supplies for their markets.

These efforts ensure that the farmers continue to improve the quality of their produce so that it can meet the standards of the high-end markets.

Main products

GRENROP’s farmers grow a wide variety of fresh produce including vegetables, root crops, fruit, poultry and eggs. The also process products into coconut oil, seasoning and sauces made from local herbs.

Main markets

GRENROP supplies to buyers in Grenada including top hotels and restaurants, supermarkets and the general public including online sales.

Innovations

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, GRENROP launched the possibility for their customers to make requests for home deliveries. This initiative has opening up access to a new market that GRENROP continues to profit from.

Through funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and from one of their main customers, the Sandals hotel, GRENROP was able to provide rainwater harvesting systems to their farmers and install a solar system for a female poultry farmer.

GRENROP continues to work towards assisting farmers increase agricultural productivity through improved farming methods and post harvesting techniques, helping farmers to empower themselves and improve their livelihoods. Notably, GRENROP is looking to establish a vibrant coconut processing industry.

Success factors and lessons learned

GRENROP has established many partnerships, including with the Ministry of Agriculture, Grenada’s luxury resorts and some of the leading supermarkets and restaurants in Grenada. Some of these partnerships have led to funding opportunities from resort-linked organisations such as The Sandals Foundations and Silversands. GRENROP has also implemented projects from support organisations that include the FAO – as part of the project to resume household gardening for family consumption and fishery production activities after Hurricane Ivan, the Green Environment Facility (GEF), the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) through the Grenada OECS Regional Agriculture Competitiveness Project (AGRICOM), and CARITAS. These partnerships and projects have enabled GRENROP to finance their activities, provide technical support, as well as agricultural infrastructure and inputs to their members.

Moreover, GRENROP promotes agri-tourism in Grenada through further partnership with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) that involved GRENROP in efforts to create linkages between agriculture and tourism.

GRENROP continues to encourage the youth, especially women, to be part of the organisation.

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