By:
Patricia Thangaraj
The move by one local business owner who stated in one of the newspapers that the reason he imports poultry is because he can’t get enough from local farmers is being described by the CEO of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), James Paul as a “cowardly act.”
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, he said that for one thing, it is shameful that he would want to chip away at the local poultry industry by making this ‘false accusation’.
“The BAS wishes to express its disappointment over the article appearing in the Sunday Nation purporting to come from a large local purchaser of poultry. In the first instance, the action is seen as a cowardly act to undermine the local poultry industry by a member of the private sector who clearly does not have the interest of Barbados at heart not that they can be expected to.”
Paul said that this statement on behalf of this person is clearly an indication of someone who is only looking out for himself or herself and it is sad that this attitude should be present especially as this nation gets ready to mark its golden jubilee.
“At best it represents the outpourings of a business that is bent on looking after its own interest at the expense of other businesses in the economy. In our 50th year of Independence, it is with a sense of profound regret and disillusionment that Barbadians have to admit that these types of self serving businesses exist in the economy today.”
Quoting from an article from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he stated that it outlined the fact that a country needs to rely on among other things, the need to capitalize on the agricultural sector in order for the country to achieve any growth.
“On August 22, 2016, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Barbados. In a document ‘Press Release No. 16/382, it was stated that ‘Directors agreed that a comprehensive growth strategy is needed to lift the country’s long-term competiveness in the key tourism sectors. Priorities for raising growth include timely implementation of tourism investment and infrastructure projects, improving public service efficiency and streamlining business regulation, increasing labour market flexibility and unlocking agriculture’s growth potential.’ ”
Therefore, the CEO called on all persons to read this article and cooperate in accomplishing this objective rather than engaging in activities that seek to weaken the island’s capacity and foreign exchange reserves.
“It is noteworthy that in the release the directors clearly felt that is was important that the growth potential of the agricultural sector should be unlocked if the country is to achieve long term competiveness and outlined growth targets. Hence, it is incumbent for every private sector player to read the script and get on board indeed of engaging in actions that undermine the viability of Barbados and its foreign exchange reserves. In fact, it is clearly necessary to provide additional support to those sectors that either earn or save foreign exchange instead of those that consume large portions of foreign exchange that are not for the benefit of the country at large.”
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