Imported pork choking local market, farmers seek relief

Barbados’ pig farmers are seeking urgent solutions as they grapple with mounting losses and an oversupply of imported meat choking the market.

President of the Barbados Pig Farmers Association, Henderson Williams, said the situation has become unsustainable, particularly for small-scale farmers who lack the resources to hold stock when their pigs cannot be sold or slaughtered.

He confirmed that industry stakeholders have been in dialogue with the Ministry of Agriculture on the matter.

“We have had consultations with the ministry recently,” Williams said. “The point is, there are some tariff lines – like on pork ribs – that may need to be re-evaluated. Some people are exploiting those tariffs to import at lower rates, and that impacts our market.”

According to assessments conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, regional imports only account for about two per cent of overall pork imports. This means the majority of the pork flooding the local market originates from Canada and the United States.

Williams stressed that the issue isn’t just about policy – it’s also about survival for smaller farmers.

“Farmers may not have the capacity of 200-300 pigs that if they don’t get 10 sales today, they would hold off for another couple of weeks,” he said. “Normally, particularly with the small farmers, if you don’t get 10 pigs or 20 pigs to market, having to feed them is a challenge. So we would have been in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture, we have been having communication for over maybe a year so to look at how we can incentivise the production.”

He acknowledged that while the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) has launched a campaign to find new markets, including in the fresh pork segment, the system remains locked in a cycle of stagnation.

“If farmers do not believe that there’s an opportunity to get their produce sold, then they will not produce. So, if the imports are clogging up the system and people are having their stuff frozen, having to reduce production in order to stay in business, then we will [not see growth],” Williams said.

BAS CEO James Paul acknowledged the growing frustration among farmers.

“Right now, yes, we do have an issue in the market. Basically, we have farmers who do have pigs, and we have difficulty marketing it for them,” he said.

He noted that the primary processors – Hipac and supermarket chain Massy – have been purchasing local pork, but not in volumes sufficient to absorb the current supply. 

Paul explained, “The truth is really that we have seen some expansion in the market, and we also have a problem in terms of imports. Especially over the years, what we’ve seen is there has been an increasing amount of imports of some categories of pork, and this consequently means that a lot of farmers have been negatively affected as a result of those imports, largely because of the fact that they have lowered the duties on the imports.”

“We are asking that those duties be raised,” he added, calling on the government to ensure the livelihoods of those farmers are protected.

The BAS CEO revealed that more than 50 pigs per week are currently not making it to market. Compounding the issue, Hipac reportedly has a backlog of carcasses in cold storage that remain unsold.

He further said that though there would be an expectation from the general public that sales for local producers would be between during the upcoming summer season, the reality is much different.

“Sales generated of local produce are not as great as people think it is. What we really need is some action to control the levels of imported pork,” he insisted.

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb