The Government of Barbados has set up a new mechanism to further tighten its controls on the importation of onions into the island.
The revelation came Friday evening from Minister of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security Indar Weir, on the heels of a complaint from Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul that local farmers now face stiff competition from imported onions and can’t get enough buyers because the foreign product was being sold at a cheaper price.
Minister Weir said he had to intervene to protect the interests of the local producers.
“I held a meeting with the Ministry of Commerce and my ministry and we agreed to some mechanisms to correct any future importation of onions into Barbados by having the two ministries communicate before a licence is granted and to also make sure that there is enough local supply,” Minister Weir told Barbados TODAY.
Alternately, he said, the mechanism also requires the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) to have a stock of onions that can satisfy local demand first, in cases where a shortage exists in the country.
“That’s where we are. Those are the decisions we took on the matter. I can only now continue to monitor to make sure the protocols we established for the future are followed, and I am doing a thorough investigation to find out how the onions that were imported, had in fact, contributed to the glut that we have,” the minister stated.
Weir said farmers had been receiving help from his ministry in storing their onions and the BADMC has also worked with them as well.
“All in all, we are trying to help the farmers with their crops and at the same time, trying to have a situation where the protocols are in place and should be followed,” he declared.
The agriculture minister also gave the assurance that details of the new mechanism will shortly be shared with the farmers.
“We will now meet with the farmers. The BADMC will also reach out to the farmers to make sure they are onboard with what we have agreed. This thing has to be done through an electronic device so that we can have the information in real-time and we would know exactly what quantities we have available,” the minister said.
Weir explained that when Barbados has an adequate supply of locally-produced onions, the BADMC tends to control the quantity that is imported so they would not compete with the local produce.
“Barbadian onions are given first or preferential treatment once they are available. But there is still some demand for imported onions because of the dryness of the onions which manufacturers may use to make seasonings and so on.
“If someone is given a permit to import onions, those onions would have been imported clearly, not at the preferential tariffs, but would have attracted duties et cetera. The person who would have imported the onions obviously, I would want to believe, went through the channels in getting a licence and would be given an import licence,” Minister Weir noted.
“That being done, those onions could not have been sold at a price below what BADMC would normally retail onions at,” he contended.
The BAS boss had earlier reported that while farmers are reaping favourable onion crops at this time, they are not getting enough buyers because imported onions were being sold cheaper
“You have private players causing havoc on the local market for our onion producers at this point in time,” he lamented. “The situation is bad because I have a farmer sitting down now with 300 bags of onions and cannot get them sold and there are more onions coming. I know another farmer who is coming in with another field of onions soon and he will get challenges when they come in. Some farmers get through because they are well connected, but think about those farmers who don’t.”
Paul urged the Government to provide greater support for farmers who are producing the crop.
“We need to control the importation of onions where that importation is going to turn out to be detrimental to local producers, especially when we are talking about food security and expanding the agricultural sector at this point in time.”
Paul had complained that while the BADMC had put measures in place to manage the situation, including not putting imported onions on the market when locally produced ones are available, private players have been importing onions without regard to what is available locally.
(EJ)
