Barbados Chicken Industry Faces Uncertainty Amid Import Concerns for ICC T20 Cricket World Cup

One of the island’s largest chicken producers has predicted that the importation of two 40-foot containers of wings to meet expected demand during the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup will devastate the poultry industry.

Although the sector is set to produce record levels of meat in a strong rebound from the COVID-19 slump, Executive Director of Fasons Food Inc. (Amir Chicken) Amir Juman declared the imported wings would disrupt the progress of chicken farmers and lead to major unemployment.

Last week, Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir told Barbados TODAY that the 2023 ban on chicken wings was lifted and the sole importer of the product – the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) – would import two 40-foot containers of chicken wings for the World Cup in June.

Top industry officials have predicted a record year for the Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers (BEPPA) at 11 million birds, surpassing 2019’s 10.7 million. Barry Gale, managing director at Gale’s Agro Products, the island’s largest hatchery, had said: “This year, the statistics for the first four months of the year suggest that we are about ten per cent above last year’s production. By the end of April, 3.3 million chicks would have been ordered. If production continues the way it is going we should expect this year to beat the 2019’s record.”

But, Juman, the island’s largest grower of Halal poultry, painted a dismal picture in light of the imported wings.

“It will have a significant impact on the sector and I think it is extremely unplanned and reckless, especially when consultation was not made with BEPPA, which represents the poultry industry in Barbados,” he said.

Juman, also a BEPPA board member, said the industry’s projection made it unnecessary to import wings, suggesting that domestic farmers alone could meet the increased demand from the World Cup.

“There is a lot of hope within the small farmer division,” he said. “This importation is not good when it is quite well known that there is an increase in production. The importation was not necessary. There was no need to import.

“For Barbados, the poultry industry is one of the last remaining consistent industries within the agriculture sector and I find that it was not being properly protected in the past few years due to all of these wings coming in. Government should consider giving import licences for non-competing products that are not manufactured locally. In this way, it would not damage the industry. We have done without wings for a long time; bringing in wings is hurting Barbados more than it is developing it.”