Farmers in flap over wings

Article by by Roy R. Morris

The Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation is being stewed by local poultry farmers over its decision to import two containers of chicken wings without consultation.
The 48 000 kilos of chicken wings, which are due to arrive in the island today, are said to have been consigned to one local restaurant operator by the BADMC, and that given normal sales patterns could satisfy that entity for the next five or six years.
What has the farmers even more incensed is that the importation has come at a time when local chicken production is soaring – selling each month since the year started about 150 000 more birds than the 700 000 monthly average.
“What we understand,” said one farmer who attended a meeting organised by the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) at the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday for which no official of BADMC turned up, “is that the restaurant operator wants them for sales during Crop Over”.