‘Get involved in Black Belly sheep project’

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul wants local farmers to have a say in the Black Belly sheep breeding initiative between Barbados and Guyana.

And he has invited them to make sure their voices are heard.

Late last month, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security Indar Weir said Barbados was working closely with Guyana to achieve the goal of having a million Barbados Black Belly sheep within the next five years.

At a press conference on Thursday, Paul said farmers should show interest in the programme in light of the fact that Barbados needs to significantly increase its Black Belly sheep stock.

“Certainly, the opportunity of finding markets in Guyana is something that we would want to explore. And one of the things that we want to continue to have is that Barbados continues to be the leader in terms of sheep breeds, especially the Black Belly sheep,” he added.

“The Barbados Black Belly sheep belongs to Barbados. And I think that one of the things that we have done over the years and we are even going to continue is to encourage farmers in good husbandry practices so that, for instance, we can actually increase the numbers of animals that we have available at the same time.”

Paul has encouraged farmers to learn more about the programme and how they can benefit, from consultant with the Ministry of Agriculture Dr Leroy McClean – who specialises in genetic analysis of the Barbados Blackbelly sheep and other Caribbean hair sheep – at a meeting scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m, at the BAS’ Beckles Road, St Michael headquarters.

“We would like to invite the farmers on Saturday to see how we can benefit. One of the things that the BAS has done over the years is that we have very close relationships with other farming organisations in the region, and of course that also includes Guyana.

“If, for instance, we can work out partnerships between the farmers here and the farmers in Guyana, that is something of course that we will be willing to explore. But the thing is that we have to be able to prepare our farmers in order to take advantage of those opportunities. It must not be one way; we want to see how all of us can benefit from those relationships and all of us come out winners at the same time,” Paul said.

He also shared that the BAS is again placing emphasis on resuming its Black Belly sheep registration programme to encourage farmers to engage in data collection and record keeping, which he said will play an important role in the proposed programme. (AH)