Over the past several weeks, local consumers have been paying higher prices for poultry due to a shortage in supply.
Director of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Donny Rogers, said the scarcity has been influenced by climate conditions. However, he noted that the source of local poultry supply has also contributed to the shortage.
“Right now we import all our eggs that goes towards broiler production. The value on that, if I remember correctly, is just about a hundred and 20 million dollars. Now when this came to light, I have to congratulate the Prime Minister because we saw the action on the government’s side where the express for information and the expression of interest came out requesting persons to send in their application for the broiler egg production facility.”
While Dr. Rogers noted that the scarcity will ease in the coming weeks, he pointed to the fact that policy decisions need to be guided by data, which the country does not have.
“We can’t expect that things would change overnight but what we are seeing is that when issues come up they are being dealt with.
We cannot answer who is producing how much of what where and other what conditions. That is what we need to answer. A very simple question but that is where we need to be.”
Dr. Rogers reiterated his call for a national agriculture census which he said will provide the necessary data for government to make informed decisions to secure the national food infrastructure.