Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir is defending his ministry’s decision to ban the sale of imported chicken and turkey wings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a branch meeting of his St Philip South constituency over the weekend, Weir urged constituents not to lose direction and to stay focused, insisting insisted that the decision was in the best interest of small farmers whom he vowed to protect at this critical time.
The Minister has come under attack in recent weeks, by former agriculture Minister Anthony Wood who has publicly criticized Weir for making what he described as a wrong move that would have crippling effects. The fallout between the two has led Wood to distance himself from the sitting MP and resign from the Barbados Labour Party (BLP).
However, Weir has maintained that small poultry farmers who are either supplementing an income, or have no other source of income, need to be able to sell their poultry which has become difficult because of a glut on the market.
“And you will ask me, a boy who grew up in Church Village that had to live through this same kind of struggle, to go to the United Kingdom and import chicken wings in Barbados at a time when there was a pandemic.
“I have fundamentally no problem with people eating chicken wings. Eat what you want. I may not agree with you. I have spoken about diet before.
“But put the noose around my neck because I will not as a boy growing up in Church Village where we had to raise chickens equally, pigs and sheep, to be able to pay our bills, to come and say to Barbadians in a pandemic, I am going to import chicken wings. I don’t care who suffers. Come on Bajans, this isn’t who we are,” Weir said.
Wood, who recently resigned as Chairman of the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) argued that putting halt to the sale of chicken wings at the BADMC for seven weeks would result in the corporation losing revenue of nearly $2 million.
However, during his passionate delivery as he addressed his party supporters, Weir said he would not be helping to destroy the livelihood of many black Barbadians.
“Let us get real Bajans, please and stop the foolishness in this country because we have to reach the point where we are going to determine if black lives matter and if we are serious about it. I have never seen any other colour than black people with chickens, 20 and 30 and 40, and 50 and a 100 in their backyard.
“So tell me black lives matter and then you want me to go to the United Kingdom, take foreign currency that we are currently not earning, and import chicken wings, simply because it suits your agenda. I, Indar Weir, will not do it. And let’s be clear, because I have seen it myself, and if you can’t switch to any part of the chicken, go to fish, go to pork, go to beef, go to lamb, but you will not convince this student in management that I must be confined to something that I know is wrong. I am not going to do it,” Weir said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb
