Obstacles being put in the way of Barbadian products trying to penetrate regional markets are raising questions about continuing adherence to the CARICOM Single Market treaty.
Chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society, James Paul, said yesterday the time had come to take “a realistic look” at the treaty to determine “whether or not we need to pull back at this time and take a more realistic approach of what individual countries can do”.
“How can we expect the agricultural sector to survive in an environment in which clearly other regional governments have taken steps to protect their sectors but we are still in this country operating as if everything is fair?” Paul asked.
“The truth is, it is not fair, and I think that we have to start to look seriously at thinking that we need to put Barbados first rather than have a situation where we continue to be everybody’s punching bag when it comes to the whole question of trade,” Paul said.
