Agriculture performing ‘strongly’ as Xmas supplies ‘secure’

Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir rejected claims of farming on the decline, insisting that produce supplies will remain stable this Christmas.

Citing Central Bank data showing double‑digit growth and falling prices for key staples, he challenged opposition leader Ralph Thorne’s criticisms during a tense exchange in the House of Assembly on Tuesday.

Responding to Thorne’s claims that agriculture was in decline, Weir said the most recent Central Bank report showed that agriculture had recorded significant growth across the first three quarters of the year, adding that prices for sweet potato, a key staple, had fallen.

He told the House that the opposition leader continued to rely on what he described as unsubstantiated claims rather than available data.

“Each and every time the Honourable Member speaks about agriculture in this Parliament, it is a load of generics. No facts to support what he is saying,” Weir said, adding that the third‑quarter Central Bank report measured agricultural crop output “at 10 per cent above last year”.

Weir said the report documented increases across several categories.

He said: “Food crops rose 12.3 per cent on grains. Meat production increased 9.1 per cent. Egg output rose 14.5 per cent. Pork expanded 3.7 per cent, and chicken production climbed to 2.7 per cent.”

The figures, taken together, pointed to “10.1 per cent growth in agriculture in the third quarter in 2025”, he added.

Asserting that the opposition leader had mischaracterised the state of the industry, Weir said Barbadians were not facing any threats to Christmas supplies.

“People ask about supplies for Christmas. Barbadians consume a lot of ham in this country at Christmas. We now have an abundance of ham and pork available in Barbados,” he said. “We have poultry available in abundance in Barbados [and] table eggs.”

He added that no warnings of shortages had emerged from the farming community. “Christmas is upon us. We have not heard any waves at all about any shortages of any kind of food,” he said. He also confirmed falling prices for a major staple. “Sweet potato in Barbados last year around this same time [was] $10 a pound [it] is now $1.75 per pound for Barbados to consume.”

The House debate focused on a resolution to borrow $313.6m from China’s national pharmaceutical corporation, SINOPHARM. (SZB)