Paul on US tariff

The tariffs being imposed by US President Donald Trump could have an impact on the poultry industry here.

According to Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society James Paul, these duties could place players within the sector at “a severe disadvantage”.

“President Trump is now about to make available $12 billion in subsidies to the agriculture sector in the United States of America. Immediately, what that does is increase the competitiveness of imported American poultry,” he said.

He noted that if there was really a push for the development of the local agriculture sector, which employs citizens and saves foreign exchange for Barbados, the industry must be given a level playing field.

Paul made the comments at the BAS headquarters on Tuesday, while telling members of the media that farmers are already crying out about the increase in imported chicken wings on the market. Noting that sales of local poultry are usually slow during the Crop-Over period, he outlined that it was being further dampened by cheaper imports.

“So the concern for local farmers is that in a situation where sales are not expected to grow, they are now having to compete with imported products,” he said, noting that there must be closer collaboration between the importer of the chicken products – the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), and the farmers.

“It begs the question as to why are we not working more closely between state agencies like the BADMC and the farmers of our local poultry in order to ensure that the amounts that are being imported do not at the same time put our local poultry producers at a disadvantage,” he said.

Paul insisted, “The poultry industry simply cannot compete with the cheap imported subsidised poultry.” (JMB)