If Bajan farmers can grow it on the island and meet local demand, then it should be banned.
That’s the opinion of the largest agricultural organization in Barbados.
Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) chief executive James Paul made the call during a press conference today at Beckles Road, St Michael’s headquarters.
“There is no reason why we are importing goods such as pumpkins, cucumbers, [and] watermelon in this country. I believe they should be banned whether they come from CARICOM or not…I don’t believe we should be importing any of those goods into this country because Barbadian farmers have the ability to produce those products at very competitive prices,” he insisted Paul.
He claimed the ban will help reduce the country’s hefty import bill, which averages $700 million a year, by at least $2 million.
Paul asserted that the importation of products needed to be better regulated. While disputing claims that local farmers were not capable of high demand at competitive prices, the BAS chief stated that farmers wanted to increase production, but they were hampered by the high risks of a market saturated by imported goods and a surplus possible.
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“When those products are imported, what happens is that they force the prices below the cost of production of those farmers, because we already see in Barbados, there are times when we have a surplus… the price goes below the cost of production. This is unfortunate.”
Paul stressed that an organized and coordinated effort between Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and BAS was necessary to ensure the development of the sector and to achieve the 2025 target of reducing the food import bill by 25 percent.
“We have seen an attempt by people in the Ministry of Agriculture to contact us when there is a request for the sale and import of certain goods. I would like to see across the board, in terms of all commodities across Barbados, that we do not have a situation where import licenses are issued without consulting agricultural representatives [about] what is on earth.”
