Price hike?

Barbadians have been given the assurance that there will be no shortages of meat or vegetables this Christmas.

However, they may have to pay more for them, chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul has told Barbados TODAY.

He said that from all indications, chicken, pork, lamb and beef, along with all locally-grown vegetables would be plentiful for the Yuletide season.

“At the moment I don’t see any issues as far as the availability of products for Christmas is concerned. Farmers usually do what they need to do to ensure that they have adequate supplies and stocks of people’s favourite food items,” he said.

“Certainly in relation to poultry, we aren’t having any difficulties and we have adequate amounts. You know you can sell any amount of pork around Christmas time so there isn’t that issue there. In terms of vegetables, certainly, yes, the weather would have impacted some vegetable crops negatively but you are seeing lettuce coming back onto the market and other vegetables. So, hopefully, you will have enough there in terms of fruits and vegetables in order to satisfy the demand for buy-local consumers.”

However, the BAS CEO cautioned shoppers that there was a possibility they could see increased prices.

Paul explained that the prices of feed and fertiliser had not yet returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic prices which meant farmers were facing increased costs in rearing animals and planting crops.

“I think we have to face the fact. The fact of the matter is that pricing is not only an issue in Barbados but all over the world and while we might have some people trying to prove that they can be God in terms of trying to keep things down, the thing is that prices are under pressure because a lot of the principal drivers in terms of the current prices we are seeing, they have not gone away.

“The Ukraine war is still alive and well, and as a result of that you find it is still having an impact on the market and it is just driving up the costs of certain commodities – corn, for instance. We’ve been following the prices recently and we noticed that there has been some moderation with respect to the price of corn, but that is only recently,” Paul pointed out.

“We are hoping that at the end of the day, things will change soon but we have to be patient. We are basically price takers and the price of the ingredients that we use to producethe commodities have gone up…. Farmers in this country have had to bear the brunt of the increased costs of inputs. The costs have gone up astronomically in the poultry sector and in the fruit and vegetable sector and this is the problem,” he added.

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb