Consumers were assured Wednesday that there will be adequate supplies of chicken back in retail outlets soon.
Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), James Paul told Barbados TODAY that at a meeting on Monday, top figures in the poultry industry agreed to import the much-needed protein.
Although he did not confirm the number of birds that the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), the sole importer of poultry meat, will bring in, Barbados TODAY understands that two containers of frozen whole chickens from the United States will be shipped to the island shortly.
Paul said: “There was a meeting in which the current shortage of poultry in the supermarkets was discussed, and we worked out a strategy in which that could be solved. We had all stakeholders on board in terms of resolving how we need to move forward, and what we have [acknowledged] is that clearly, the supermarkets have a problem because they need fresh chicken on the shelves. In that regard, we have also recognised that because of the current issues that we are facing, we cannot do it almost immediately, but within a matter of weeks, the issue of fresh chicken on supermarket shelves will resolve itself.”
Last week, Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir noted that small farmers were particularly affected by the summer heat wave, explaining: “Around July, August… we lost 156 000 birds which means that the small farmers who do not have the facilities to withstand the heat opted out of placing birds at that period.”
Other officials stated that the demand for poultry had increased due to the shortages of fresh fish stock as a result of the fallout from Hurricane Beryl.
Over the past few days, the challenges in the poultry industry were a topic of national discussion on the Down to Brass Tacks call-in programme on which both Weir and Paul shared their views. The discussion raised the issue of birds not growing to market size and the impact the shortage was having on fast-food restaurant chains and supermarkets.
In April this year, Weir forecast that 2024 was set to be a record year as the industry would place 11 million chicks, beating the pre-COVID-19 peak of 10.7 million. But, for the ICC T20 World Cup in June, the BADMC imported two containers of chicken wings. The BAS claimed that this disrupted market forces, causing many small farmers to experience great difficulty selling their products. In August, cold storage firm BICO reported that there were well over 34 000 pounds of meat being frozen.
Paul said that during Monday’s meeting, stakeholders alluded to the revelation by Weir on Tuesday in another section of the media that the island’s largest poultry supplier had production challenges.
Chickmont Foods supplies more than 70 per cent of the domestic market.
Chairman Peter Defreitas could not be reached for comment, and Paul said he could not shed any light on the challenges facing that supplier.
But a senior official at Monday’s meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the company had made a major change in its production system.
The BAS chief said he was pleased that the poultry industry was able to discuss the importation, stressing that more of this level of communication was needed to ensure that any future imports would not damage the industry.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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