Scheduled for publication on September 29, 2026, a new on-site report from News Five’s Paul Lopez pulls back the curtain on the Belize Marketing and Development Corporation (BMDC), one of Belize’s most high-performing statutory bodies, which operates at the center of the country’s imported produce supply chain. For months, wholesalers and retailers have raised growing concerns over BMDC’s pricing structures, prompting public calls for greater transparency into the organization’s internal operations. To answer those questions, Lopez gained exclusive access to BMDC’s Orange Walk headquarters to document its daily workflows, market role, and multi-year transformation journey.
Inside the organization’s busy packaging facility, Dayel Carvajal carries out his daily tasks with steady confidence and exact precision, moving seamlessly through the facility he knows by heart. What stands out about Carvajal’s story is that he has been totally blind since birth, a barrier he has refused to let limit his professional success. “I have already gotten used to the layout, and I have been blind since birth. I am used to it,” Carvajal explained in an interview. When asked what message he wanted to share with others facing similar barriers, he offered a simple, powerful message of resilience: “That anyone can do a job if they wanted to. Disabilities don’t put you behind or define what you can or can’t do.” For Carvajal, the role has delivered far more than steady income: it has given him the independence to cover his own bills, support his household, and build self-sufficiency.
Carvajal’s determined spirit mirrors the transformation BMDC has undergone over the past four years, according to BMDC Administrator Valentin Carillo. Founded all the way back in the 1950s, the organization has never seen the level of change and growth it has achieved in recent years, Carillo noted. The organization’s upgraded facilities tell the story of that transformation clearly: where the site once held dilapidated, rodent-infested warehouses that once stored rice and sugar, it now boasts a modern multi-vehicle trucking terminal that can coordinate simultaneous shipments across the country.
On-site operations now cover everything from in-house packaging of staple goods including beans, 2-pound and 20-pound bags of rice, and 2-pound and 5-pound bags of sugar to hosting a fully operational coconut processing facility run by local producer Cococarib. Abizur Ramirez, Cococarib’s Production Manager, walked through the facility’s rigorous processing workflow: coconuts first go through de-skinning, are soaked in a specialized anti-corrosion solution, polished, and then undergo three separate cleaning baths before being air-dried, packaged, screened, and palletized for shipment. The brand prioritizes sustainable, zero-contamination production, with all final products loaded into temperature-controlled reefer trucks to maintain quality and avoid cross-contamination before distribution. As its latest expansion, BMDC has added an on-site restaurant that sells the organization’s value-added produce directly to consumers, marking another step in its business growth.
Even as the organization celebrates its expanding operations, major infrastructure upgrades, and new job creation for local workers, it continues to face public scrutiny over its pricing practices and market influence. Still, BMDC leadership argues that its progress over the past four years demonstrates a new model for what statutory bodies can achieve in Belize, delivering both profitability and meaningful public benefit. This report is a transcript of an on-location television broadcast from News Five.
