Small poultry farmers under pressure

Slow growth rates and issues with payment for their product are threatening the operations of small poultry farmers, says president of the Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers Association (BEPPA) Stephen Layne.

The organisation is moving to put measures in place to avert any shortages or minimise any other major impacts these challenges could create.

Layne told Barbados TODAY he believes that poultry farmers were resilient and could weather the current issues. However, drawing from the experience of the last two years and the financial problems associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Layne said he did not want the ongoing pressures to drive any more farmers away from the industry.

“The compact we signed with Government is creating some challenges for some farmers but we are very optimistic that we would be able to formulate some solutions to that situation and help resolve it. It is more a problem for the smaller farmers,” he said. “They are complaining about the pricing and the non-payment or slow payment by the persons they are selling to – the supermarkets and restaurants. This is creating some hardship for them.”

Layne said the small farmers represented about 40 per cent of the industry and the industry would not be viable without them.

He added that payment was not the only issue facing these farmers and he revealed that some of them were reporting that their birds were not growing to adequate sizes.

While he did not elaborate on the possible reasons for this, Layne said: “We are consulting with the veterinary department of the Ministry of Agriculture, private vets and the feed company to see how we can resolve some of the problems they are having.”

Layne had reported during the summer months that the poultry sector had a record mortality rate of 25 per cent, which caused a slump in production.

Despite that challenge, he was pleased with the sector’s Christmas performance and was hoping that the same way the mortality problem was handled, the farmers could overcome the current issues.

“We did exceptionally well in supplying both poultry as well as eggs [during the Christmas period]. We still have half million eggs in reserve and will be building stock shortly again.

“We are good with eggs and should still sustain the local demand. I suspect we are having bountiful tourism numbers and that would put further demand on us but we should be able to supply.”
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb