Feed rival

New player to compete with Pinnacle to drive down costs 

By Emmanuel Joseph

A new $22 million state-of-the-art livestock and poultry feed manufacturing plant, designed to help bring down the cost of poultry and other meat, will open in Barbados by the end of the year.

An American company has joined forces with a French firm to build the plant at Coral Ridge, Christ Church and compete with Pinnacle Feeds, the island’s sole feed manufacturer, Barbados TODAY has been reliably informed.

The intention is to drive down the cost of production for small farmers who, in turn, are expected to pass on the savings to Barbadians.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir disclosed to Barbados TODAY on Friday that he had visited the site where construction is going “full steam ahead”.

Although not disclosing any information about the companies involved in the project, he said: “I did a site visit and it is looking good and everything is going according to plan. This [plant]…will use a lot of technology; it is a very modern facility so you will get efficiency gains and I would hope that they will translate into savings.”

“That is my hope because it is high-tech, and certainly there will be a lot of efficiency gains, efficiency management; and the deliverables, given the use of technology, should bring about savings. That is my hope. I can’t speak for the owners,” Weir added.

A source intimately involved with the project told Barbados TODAY the feed manufacturing enterprise will be up and running by year-end and will employ just over 30 Barbadians.

“Workers will be recruited closer to year-end,” he revealed, explaining that officials of the two investing companies will be managing the feed business here.

He said the brand will also be released later, most likely during the official opening of the plant, at a date to be announced.

The well-informed source also disclosed that the new feed manufacturer will produce some 20 tonnes of the product per hour with the capacity to also supply the Eastern Caribbean islands.

Over the years, poultry and livestock farmers in Barbados have had to rely on short-term Government subsidies to ease the financial burden when the monopoly producer increased feed prices.

As recently as March this year, Pinnacle increased the cost of its products by an average of eight per cent. The company had said it had no choice but to raise prices as external market forces continued to adversely affect the cost of primary inputs, namely soybeans and corn.

During the Budgetary Proposals in March, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that the Government would work with the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) to provide a $2 million revolving fund to provide small loans to livestock farmers.

In an update on Friday, Chief Executive Officer of the BAS James Paul told Barbados TODAY as far as he was aware, that had not yet materialised.

“I haven’t received any money and I am not aware of anything being put in place as yet. What I will say to you is that I have spoken to the minister on the matter and he has to get back to us,” Paul said.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb