BAS head fears farmers’ livelihood could be in jeopardy from more imports

The head of this country’s farmers’ advocacy group has again raised the alarm over the possible increase in imported food items which can be adequately produced locally.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul has expressed fears that the recent hike in the price of certain commodities such as animal feed would trigger moves by some companies to import a variety of other produce that could put Barbadian farmers out of business.

“One of the solutions that I hear people calling for is to look at imports. Now when we start to do that, we are not just talking about feed, we are also looking at other items. In the same way that we say that farmers and their livelihood will be compromised if we go to the importation of commodities that we produce locally, the same thing applies to feed,” Paul has told Barbados TODAY.

The BAS CEO suggested that instead of going the route of importation, it would be more beneficial to the country if Barbadians in general support local businesses more.

“We have to monitor those persons and importers who will now want to use this increase in the price of local commodities to try to say ‘we will have to import not only more feed but also more food’. That is something that I am very worried about,” he declared.

He urged Barbadians to put their money where their mouths are with respect to food security, by supporting local producers.

“With respect to vegetables, the local sector is still very much competitive. As a matter of fact, right now you have a commodity such as cucumbers which are actually wholesaling at less than 50 cents per pound. This in itself is instructive. Yet, at this point in time, we also have imports of the same commodity. That is something that is very worrying,” Paul stated.
(emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)