Legislation changes to be made to reduce importation of poultry
Government will be implementing fresh legislation that could potentially reduce the amount of poultry imported in the territory monthly.
Premier Andrew Fahie said this part of a larger initiative to benefit local farmers and to boost the agricultural industry in the territory.
While giving hypothetical figures to explain how poultry importation would be reduced, Fahie said: “We will [be] … changing the legislation to say that if the country is accustomed to importing 40,000 pounds of poultry for example, and we are able now to guarantee with our local entrepreneurs in this area 10,000 pounds a month, then we are going to put a cap on it that the most that can come into the territory is 30,000 pounds because the other 10,000 must be consumed locally.”
Premier Fahie also said government will be offering ‘incentives’ to existing farmers to get the process underway. He, however, said these farmers must meet certain requirements.
“We want to make sure that those in the poultry industry have their meat product certified so that we can go to the legislation and amend it … so that we as a government can back the product,” the Premier said.
He said government will be hosting a meeting with these farmers “very soon”.
Local farmers suffered a major blow following the 2017 disasters with one report from the Department of Conservation & Fisheries stating that the farming and fishing sectors shared a collective loss of roughly $13 million.
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These local chickens suck.
Hard white skin in top. Because they force fed with food filled with hormones to make feeding for farmers less expensive and more profitable. .
If you don’t believe me, then check out them all at the store.
Boss you know what you saying…local chicken is almost organic if not organic.
1000% correct !!! With very few exceptions the local chicken product is pumped full of chemicals .. even the so called ” organic ” chicken . Would love to buy local product but the farmers need to up their game to justify buying local. And if the government forces the issue … I can choose to not eat chicken .
I don’t know about that. But I do know this means that everyone has to pay more for chicken just to make a few local farmers (who otherwise are not competitive) richer. That is what happens when you choke off competition to enrich a preferred provider.
Wat about imported….do they not make use of hormones…. everybody does.
The govt is making such decisions to reduce imports for the country growth….
All this Victorian age protectionism does no one any good.
Let completion run free.
That is how you get the best products for the people.
First of all,those imported chickens have way more hormones… Harder but healthier.
Bvinews you should use more accurate photo. The chickens here don’t have feathers as they are too crammed together to grow feathers.
Please continue importing-hormone free Puerto Rico chicken cos they soft and juicy.
Theres no such thing as local chicken unless you speaking about the free range chicken. Everything is imported the chicken the medicine the food. . Nothing is made in the bvi.the chicken does not have good texture.i am a customer so i can tell.and i know about chicken .the tecture cannot match those imported ones.we haven’t got it right as yet.
Great news, Premier Fahie!
For one, our bone density will be much stronger eating the local poultry than the the heavily hormone-induced, imported ones.
And, our poultry industry will be further enhanced, thereby stabalizing agriculture in this country.
Thank you, Premier for this initiative in helping to secure the homeland for BVIslanders; those at home, and those abroad!
Mandate only bvi raised corn be feed to the chickens.
Andrew is out of control. He has to put measures in place that these local chickens are been processed with the highest quality and cleanliness.
You cant make such a big policy change and dont put measures in place first to guarantee the highest quality.
Agree fully. That is a huge concern. Will there be continuous inspections to ensure a healthy product? As is the norm, when the demand is greater, short cuts are taken. These must be monitored. All we would need is an outbreak of salmonella poisoning due to unhealthy handling.
They can’t even enforce common laws here, how in the h**l are they going to monitor chickens in order to claim they are “ORGANIC” AND the local chicken is the same price as imported chicken. TOTAL IGNORANCE!!!
I AGREE WITH YOU SINCE THIS MAN BECOMES PREMIER HE GONE WHACO . HE HAVE NOTHING IN PLACE TO GO FORWARD. I KNOW FOR SURE WE ARE NOT PLAYING WITH THESE MINISTERS ANYMORE WE WEHAE ENOUGH. IF HE DO NOT DO SOMETHIN ABOUT LETTING IN PEOPLE FROM ST VINCENT HE CAN SAY GOOD BY NEXT ELECTION. WE HAVE OUR OWN BAD ONES TO DEAL WITH WE CANNOT TAKE IN ANYMORE TRASH WE HHAVE ENOUGH HERE MR FAHIE DO SOMETHING BEFORE PEOPLE START TAKING THE LAW IN THEIR HANDS AND THAT WIIL NOT OLNT BE THE OF YOUR GOVERNMENT BUT THE END OF THE BVI WHERE TOURIST IS CONCERN. SOME ONE HAVE TO GET SERIUOS LET IT BE YOU BEFORE ITS TO LATE.
In total agreement. In addition to what you have said, cistomers should have a right to choose what they want to eat albeit healthy or unhealthy.
This is a good decision…we will eat healthier and become more self-sufficient, but hope this doesn’t start a trade war
Andrew, you doing too much now… chill a bit… you think what you doing helping, but you hurting yourself in the long run…. I count this as a couple strikes against you already.
Andrew, there are bigger issues, plz
If the chicken here is so good and healthy why do we need legislation? let the market dictate.
Let the farmers appeal to the people, explain their product to the people and develop their own niche….You can legislate all you want people are going to eat what they want. Unless the next step is to have grocery police.
If I was a farmer I would work with a supermarket to promote the product and see how it could be a win win. Local will never be able to compete price wise with large countries who grow these chickens by the millions and tens of thousands. Our approach should be hormone and antibiotics free and range chicken. Then people have a clear choice.
Seems like the Premier is throwing a lot of stuff out and not really thinking it through. There are better ways to help farmers but they should step up their game as well.
When this is fully implemented, the average cos of chicken will the sky rocket to ploto and beyond the average and poor person’s ability to purchase, because the businessess will simply pass on the drop in volume sales profit to the customer.
Economics 101.
wrong legislation being looked at first. Need legislation to stop the “importation of people”. In essence, the labour laws need to be overhauled.
If we are raising the chicken here on the same chemicals as overseas then what’s the use? Then why call it local chicken? It’s like buying ‘BVI’ Tshirts in China and reselling them as ‘local’ products. Are the locally farmed chicken healthier than imports?
Love the initiative
This man has no idea what he is doing. Father help us. Now he is going to starve us.
No doubt, chicken is a popular food in the BVI; it is consumed as legs, wings, breast, gizzards, livers, strips…..etc. Currently, most of the demand is imported and reducing the import will improve the quality (hopefully organic), reduce the food import bill, and provide a multiplier effect in the economy. Poultry production is something that should be able to be done locally. Nonetheless, in reducing the import quantity, provisions must be put in place to ensure the safety, quality, supply, equal or lower cost……etc. Further, locally produced poultry will have to compete with import; production cost must be a consideration.
Moreover, government, in instituting this change, will incur some additional cost, ie, hiring, training, supporting……….etc staff to inspect the complete product. Minimum standards will have to be set up and enforced to ensure public health and safety. Will consumers be willing to pay more locally produced chicken?
Y’all think that Andrew doing to much SMH. When the bomb dops lota ayo go see what he is trying to prepare us for. Like ayo forgetting the financial act done pass uk gave 4 years to get house in order. It’s either the financial companies go run or they go stay .if they stay they go take All the town business spot. And the small man have to operate his business on the road side. So follow Andrew and empower your self. Days are numbered .
Y’all a bunch of haters that probably are not in favor of VIP so you just talking out your @$$. Fahie clearly said “We want to make sure that those in the poultry industry have their meat product certified” but yet one hater commented that “He has to put measures in place that these local chickens are been processed with the highest quality and cleanliness.” Do you know what certified means??? Both the chicken product and the manufacturing plan has to be to a certain standard to be certified. Then the workers also have to have their certifications as well to be certified handlers.
Certified by whom?Him? God help us…
Exactly by Whom, the BVI has no qualified people to monitor and to check regulations and lets be frank you have no regulations anyway. And please tell me what facilities are on BVI for slaughter and what regulations that ensure humane and safe slaughter.
Those chickens are born in Barbados and flown in on Liat. I hope they are not getting belonger status. They only just reach here.
This is funny…but they are born in Barbados and brought over here indeed. Seems like someone helped that young man with that business but he needs to start doing things the hard way now instead of handouts by raising the chickens his self to avoid importing them.
Here’s a good example of nationalism/localism overcoming common sense. Happens all the time – not just here -and it is dangerous.
People think that because it is ‘we’ doing it it must be better. Because ‘we’ decided to to make a law it IS the right law.
Good that the Premier is encouraging farming. Good that he is helping local business. Good!
But make sure the law is a HEALTHY law. Make sure it is a SAFE law.
Don’t help one businessman to the detriment of the population. If these ‘organic’ chickens are actually pumped full of chemicals – check to see if they are safe. Are those chemicals and hormones banned in other countries? Why? Check and TELL US!
Add an amendment that chicken farmers must produce a percentage of organic chickens, label their products clearly etc. Don’t force us to eat profit-at-all-costs chicken just to make this industry stronger and to show that you putting BVIslanders first.
The businessman’s incentive is to make more money. If the cheap way to make a chicken fat is to feed C!!P then don’t let that person sell chicken until they find a way to make it SAFE. Even if he/she IS local!.
You have a stronger obligation towards public well-being than you do to supporting one two/local businessman.
Examples are everywhere: too often we would rather keep this island dangerous, inefficient and looking mumu because it’s we locals that make the law – than consider what is best for everyone and do the right thing.
between riteway, bobbys and one mark the retail and whole sale around 600,000 lbs chicken monthly.
how much can the BVI produce?
The PR bred, USDA certified, goat meat is sold for about half the price of the occasional BVI bred goat meat that comes to market because of better husbandry, the economy of scale, available inexpensive flat land. The same sort of parameters apply to the PR chicken industry, where the economies of scale are increased by hundreds, perhaps thousands when compared with BVI chicken production. Each pound of chicken raised requires 6 to 8 pounds of IMPORTED chicken feed. What is the extra cost of the feed when Shipping and Duty have been added, not to mention that PR producers buy their feed in bulk, not in retail size bags as the BVI farmer has to. This whole issue is protectionism for the small number of BVI chicken farmers, resulting in higher prices for one of the main sources of protein for all people living in the Territory.
Think again.
This is pure socialism. But then again, there are no pure socialist or capitalist economy; the economies are hybrids. No doubt, there are advantages to producing as much poultry as practical locally, ie, reducing the food bill, enhancing food security, creating employment, producing fresher, healthier and safer product…….etc. However, the BVI does not have either an absolute advantage or comparative advantage in producing poultry.
So the locally produced product may be more costly than the imported product; local producers with government subsidies may be competitive with import. At what point, will local producers without government subsidies be competitive with imports? Thus, will limiting imports be in the best interest of consumers? In any event, local producers must find ways to differentiate themselves to be competitive with imports, ie, organic, quality……..etc. Is this interference in the market process throwing a life line to fr…….s at the expense of taxpayers?
We raise our own. No hormones, chemicals, or anything. Just free ranging, good grains, fruits, veggies etc. All local.