Win-A-Hog Christmas Competition launched

Local pig farmers are being assured they will be protected from the importation of pork.

During  the launch of  Win-A-Hog Christmas Competition at the Barbados Pig Farmers Co-Operative Society in St Michael, Minister of Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Commerce Dwight Sutherland said there’s an increase in the amount of pork produced in Barbados.

“In this regard, my Ministry, the Ministry of Small Business Entrepreneurship and Commerce in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security will be exploring a series of policy options to effectively transform and preserve the development of poultry and pork sectors in [Barbados]. I’m not just sitting and allowing you the small pork producers to suffer as a result of importation into this country,” he explained.

“I believe that the time has come where we need to explore via the World Trade Organization, compatible trade law mechanisms, the preservation of some policy space to transform some of our key sectors and industries in which the local pork sector must be considered.”

The Government, he said, believes under international trade law policy there is still a level of protectionism that can be carved out to minimize all of the imports and to give small farmers enough room to build out the poultry and pork sector in Barbados.

“On the domestic policy spectrum we are seriously looking at bringing pork under a state trading enterprise mechanism and therefore under the  regime of the Barbados Agriculture Development and Marketing Cooperation (BADMC) so that not [everyone] can import pork into this country. I believe that the same way you want to import turkey, chicken and poultry you go through the BADMC,” he added.

The Minister said the time has come to protect the local producers and to build vibrant industries because it would give the economy a buffer in difficult financial times.

“We are not saying that we cannot import but what we are saying through international trade law is that industry is given that space to mature and that is what we call a level of protectionism.” (MR)