Using sargassum to make goat feed | Old Harbour company to represent Jamaica at world’s largest green business competition

Awganic Inputs, a local start-up company led by Old Harbour’s very own Daveian Morrison, topped the Jamaica leg of the competition held last Friday.

Their presentation demonstrated how the obnoxious seaweed sargassum and other agro waste materials are combined to produce goat feed that, potentially, is very economical and environmentally friendly.

The ingredients are all organic and locally sourced and reduces carbon emissions by 97 percent when compared to other livestock feed production.

With the right investment the product is projected to generate yearly sales of US$1 million by 2024. In the next four years Awganic Inputs is also projected to record annual sales growth of seven percent, while accommodating for 12 percent of the local goat feed market, Morrison outlined. By 2026, he said, they intend to diversify its organic feed production line from just goats and into fish, cattle and rabbit.

According to Morrison, Awganic Inputs is poised to capitalise on the growing goat industry which is set to “quadruple from 700,000 head of goats to three million” in the next few years. Outside of praedial larceny, goat feed is the biggest issue for the local sector, Morrison argued, while pointing to the US$15 million worth of goat meat Jamaica imported in 2014, which in all likelihood has increased yearly due to its growing demand.

Morrison’s eco-friendly invention should hopefully grab the attention of the country’s tourism sector which has expressed concerns about the unwanted invasion of sargassum and its accompanying pungent rotting egg stench on its white sandy beaches. The economic fallout caused by the sargassum phenomena along our shorelines would be catastrophic, which has seen calls by Jamaica’s tourism minister Edmund Bartlett for proactive action.

Awganic Inputs will now aim to fly the Jamaican flag high when they compete with 54 other countries later this year in Amsterdam. The winner will receive €10,000 as well as direct access to the EIT Climate-KIC accelerator.

It’s the first time Jamaica will be represented at the global competition which aims to “unlock the world’s cleantech potential that addresses climate change”.

While there is no monetary reward for winning the Jamaica leg, Morrison told Old Harbour News that the “international exposure and potential investment” are incalculable.

“For me though it’s that I jump on anything like this to improve my business readiness,” he said, noting that he became aware of the competition after seeing a post on social media.

Whatever the outcome Awganic Inputs, and its team of young engineers and entrepreneurs, is surging ahead with its plans.

“We have had talks with our major suppliers who also produce commercial scale organic waste,” Morrison, who holds a bachelors of science degree in electrical engineer, told Old Harbour News.

The other team members are Omar Morrison, chemical engineer; Jerome Stewart, mechanical engineer; Hamphroy Francis, who is an expert in accounts and finance management; and goat farmer Devon Sayers, who is a former high school teacher and also the holder of a master’s degree in sales and marketing.