By: Staff Writer
September 9, 2022
A Belizean agro-processor wants to “impact CARICOM in a stronger way,” says sales have strongly rebounded since the COVID-19 economic shutdown had them sputtering along with now sales up by 400 percent since 2020.
Umeeda Switlo, president of Naledo Belize, told Caribbean Magazine Plus that during 2019-2021, sales were just $100,000 but now in 2022 sales are at $500,000 and counting. “We’re coming back. Even though we want to get orders from the UK and the EU, our other objective is to get orders from CARICOM, because CARICOM orders about 40,000 metric tons of turmeric from India and Bangladesh. And here we are in CARICOM, we want them to come to us because we have a better quality of turmeric. We want to impact the CARICOM in a stronger way.”
This turmeric producer has participated in the Specialty & Fine Food Fair in London from Sept 5-6 and looks to head to Paris in October for the SIAL food festival and has her radar set on “more orders.” She said: “This is our second time with the Caribbean Export Development Agency. The last time we did it, it resulted in lots of leads. But this time, we want to really get some orders.”
Umeeda also said that they are going to “change” their approach when getting orders this year at the SIAL. “Our approach, that’s what makes us different, what makes people want to buy from us. Number one, our Turmeric is absolutely the best in the world. So it is tested against turmerics from around the world, and it beats India on its curcumin content.”
Umeeda added: “But more importantly is how it’s grown. It’s wild-crafted grown in the forest in Toledo, Belize, which makes it really good for the environment and also we pay our farmers 7 ½ times the fair trade price for turmeric. In other words, our farmers are treated fairly.
“We also make the world’s first wild-crafted Turmeric paste. So the powder is what is used all over the world, but the base is far more bioavailable. So it’s better for you.”
Turmeric’s emergence as a ‘food to watch’ started when Google Trends data recorded a 300 percent increase in searches for it between February 2012 and February 2016. This led to the spice being listed as the number one food trend in the search giant’s ‘Food Trends 2016: U.S’ report along with other foods which are also still garnering attention including jackfruit, cauliflower rice, and sourdough bread.
Since 2016, turmeric has been consistently mentioned in the ‘trending food’ conversation and that is not expected to end anytime soon. In fact, research by the CBI dated January 2022 found that “worldwide and also in Europe, the consumption of curcuma longa (aka turmeric) is forecast to increase by more than 10 percent per year in the next five years.”
The CBI added:“The trend of healthier diets is likely to remain the leading driver of food market developments in the next decades. This trend will positively impact demand for spices such as curcuma longa.”
Naledo has a register of over 350 growers in Toledo that supply them with the turmeric root on a regular basis, something Umeeda credits sustainable farming methods for allowing her to help these growers to support their families.