Local tourism industry operators could find it difficult to access some food items in the coming weeks as supply chain challenges continue as a result of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
However, officials have indicated that substitution of some items was one of the mitigating strategies to be employed as they deepen linkages with the agriculture sector and ensure consistency in supply, price and quality.
During a press conference on Thursday, Chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Renée Coppin confirmed that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic some items ran low for restaurants due to the disruption in the global supply chain.
She said based on anecdotal feedback, she feared this will be the case again in coming weeks and months as the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military continued.
“It has had a significant impact. I don’t think the Ukraine crisis, as yet, has been as impactful as it will be in the upcoming weeks and months, but from the time we had supply chain disruptions during COVID, we have had issues with accessing things as basic as bacon, things as basic as wine, tonic water – inputs that we needed in order to keep our food and beverage going,” said Coppin.
“I think that it will continue to get worse as we go forward, unfortunately. We have been having discussions with a survey of sorts done by the ministry to try to determine where the challenges lay. I think it may at some point require some substitution of products. I think it may at some point require us to relook some of the things we are offering,” she said.
She said some restaurants have had to change their menus as they engage in a “constant juggling act” due to the consistent unavailability of some items.
“At this point we have had these disruptions since last year and the year before, due to COVID. So it has been a constant juggling act for our membership particularly in the restaurant sector and the restaurants within our grouping, to try and manage this,” said Coppin.
Given the supply chain challenges, which have also resulted in a dramatic increase in the prices of some items, Government has been pursuing avenues to ramp up production of some items, including embarking on special arrangements with Guyana to mass produce some products including the black belly sheep.
Tourism officials said they were willing to use more locally produced items to replace some imports, but they said there was the lingering concern about inconsistency in supply, quality and pricing.
“In the sector we would be very excited if we can ensure consistency of supply and price and quality from local suppliers . . . I think the challenge has always been the consistency of quality, price and supply,” insisted Coppin.
Chief Executive Officer of the BHTA Rudy Grant said there has been a deepening of ties between the tourism sector and agriculture. However, he said there was still room for improvement.
According to him, during the height of the pandemic when the island was impacted by global supply chain disruptions, a number of farmers also found themselves “in great difficulty”.
“Based on the interaction with our members, there is that desire to be able to utilise more local produce, but we do have to ensure there is consistency in supply, consistency in quality and consistency in price. We will continue to work with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS),” said Grant.
He said the BHTA and the BAS were due to continue discussions next week, pointing out that being able to source more items from local farmers will help to cut the island’s food import bill and save foreign exchange.
“I think what we need to do in the short-term is strengthen the linkages and bring along those other sectors such as agriculture. That is something the BHTA is committed to and we will continue to work with the relevant agricultural entities to make that a reality,” Grant promised. (MM)
