PORK aplenty

It may be a little over four months away, but pork lovers are being assured that come Christmastime, there will be enough of the locally produced ‘other white meat’ on the shelves.

This was the guarantee given by Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society, James Paul, as he spoke to members of the media recently at his “Grotto” Beckles Road office.

“This year for Christmas for instance, we do not expect any problems with our pork production. We are seeing the placement of more pigs and so we do not expect consumers to have a problem finding pork,” he said.

Paul noted however that at a time when more persons are getting involved in poultry, pork and vegetable production due to the economic climate in order to make extra money and to reduce this island’s food import bill, these efforts were being threatened by “unregulated” imports.

“You can frustrate local producers when you have a situation where you have the unregulated importation of both pork, poultry products and other agricultural products into this country without some consultation with our local agricultural products. We really do not think at this point of time that this is a desirable situation we should have,” he stated.

Urging that local production not be compromised, he said this was currently the situation happening with the poultry sector as farmers were reporting that they had several freezers full of chicken, but they could not be sold because cheaper imports were available at retailers. (JMB)