By Sheria Brathwaite
As large poultry producers partner with the government to sell chicken at discounted prices, one businessman has devised a strategy to help shield small farmers from any disruptions that may ensue.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Executive Director of Fasons Food Inc. (Amir Chicken) Amir Juman said his company was extending its contract farming programme and establishing a small farm division to help mitigate potential challenges that could arise from the arrangement.
Juman, who currently has about 50 to 60 farmers on contract, said the poultry sector would be at tremendous risk if small players went out of business.
He said small farmers not only satisfied 15 to 20 per cent of the local demand for poultry and eggs but were significant buyers in the agriculture industry generally and any fallout on their end could impact other stakeholder businesses in the sector.
Following the Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers’ Association (BEPPA) annual general meeting on Wednesday, Barbados TODAY learned that many small farmers were struggling to keep their businesses afloat given the increases in the cost of inputs such as fuel, feed and utilities.
They also expressed great concern about the survivability of their business, noting that the sale of cheaper chicken could put them further under pressure as their clientele could seek alternative supplies at lower prices.
Juman said he believed incorporating more farmers under the programme could “stabilise” the industry.
“We have decided to incorporate a lot of the small farmers into our business. Right now, we have small farmers that supply us from as little as 1 000 birds to as many as 30 000 birds in a pen and these are all things that we contribute to in regards to the planning of our business. It is something we think about very carefully because when we started, we started small . . . so we understand the process of growth. We do have a small farmers division in the making that would protect our small farmers from all the different cost inflations and processing inflations. I believe this will help stabilise the industry regarding the stability of local production,” he said.
With this arrangement in place, it means that the small farmers could benefit from discounted rates as they would be buying products and acquiring services as a collective.
Juman stressed the critical role played by small farmers.
“We value the small farmer; they are a critical and important part of the agricultural economic fabric; and these are things that we have to bear in mind every day. Every small farmer in Barbados is a consumer of another product elsewhere and right now, we have to look at the livelihood of the entire nation. . . . Anybody involved in local productions is very important . . . .”
During the first price compact between the private sector and the government, which ran from July 2022 to January 31, 2023 several small farmers were forced to shut shop as they could not maintain selling their offerings at 10 per cent less. They objected to BEPPA going into another compact and some have since been slowly trying to get back into production.
Asked what was at stake if more farmers dropped out of the industry, Juman said: “The economy . . . . It is important to understand that small farmers contribute to 15 to 20 per cent of the poultry industry, which is a lot. The poultry industry consists of about 4 000 or 5 000 jobs and that is also important. If it is one thing a country has to preserve it is its food production. Food production is essential, it is not a by-the-way thing. So myself and the other industry players and contributors, we believe that we have an important role regarding the stability of the agriculture industry.”
Juman added that he was open to partnering with any small farmer, even if they could only produce a few hundred birds. (SZB)
