A surge in pig farming across Barbados has seen producers more than double their membership amid efforts to counter competition from imported pork and boost domestic sales through collaboration with the hospitality industry and introducing a new brand for fresh meat.
Amid rising concerns about farmers struggling against imports, new figures reveal both production and interest in the pork industry are stronger than ever, spurred by government financing, product development, and more farmers under 30 joining the trade.
President of the Barbados Pig Farmers’ Association, Henderson Williams, told Barbados TODAY that, while there have been ongoing discussions about import levels and market access, domestic production remains strong.
In 2023, 30 975 pigs were slaughtered, and in 2024 that number increased by
1 257. Early predictions indicate this year’s output should be even higher, according to Williams.
He said: “We are aware there are challenges. We’ve recently been having conversations with the Ministry of Agriculture in relation to what gets imported, who licences are granted to. Our view is that every pig that is imported is a sale that is lost for a local farmer. And we do whatever we can to ensure we have farmers getting those sales.”
Williams explained that concessions granted to the hotel industry often created an uneven playing field for small farmers. “When a small farmer sells a pig, he’s selling the whole pig. Generally, we don’t separate a chop necessarily from a loin, from a shoulder cut, from a leg cut. When these concessions are granted to the hotel industry to import, they can do that. They can get imports of just chops or particular cuts, ribs for example, based on their needs”
The association has been in talks with the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association and the Intimate Hotels group to encourage chefs and hoteliers to use more locally produced pork.
“We have to have a compromise,” he said. “We’ve been having conversations to work with these chefs to do menus that would accommodate the local farmer and work with the hotels to do more in terms of purchasing from local farmers.”
While trade agreements prevent Barbados from completely blocking imports, the pig farmers’ spokesman said the focus has been on ensuring local farmers can meet domestic demand.
“Particularly at Christmas, I am satisfied, based on all reports, that we have adequate stocks to cover the Christmas period,” said Williams.
He also revealed that membership in the association had more than doubled in recent times.
“Our membership has doubled in terms of persons who are out there producing pork. If, for example, our membership was about 250 persons, we’re up to 500 now,” he said.
“People are producing. Even if it’s a person who’s out there just growing out five or ten pigs,” he said, adding that a number of people aged 20 to 30 were getting into the industry.
He said the increase in production had been supported by government financing: “One of the things we noted is the fact that the government had injected the BAS through a loan scheme of $2 million. Today, I believe it’s about $650 000 that has been advanced to pig farmers to improve their operations, to expand. And persons have been doing that.”
Farmers have also launched value-added products under a new fresh pork brand, Saucy.
“Outside of pork cuts, some farmers have been experimenting with pork sausages, pork burgers, and so on,” said Williams. “Things that people can use with the value added immediately to put on the tables.”
The BAS and its partners are working to establish a dedicated fresh pork market and packing house at the BAS headquarters in The Grotto, St Michael.
Williams said the long-term goal was to strengthen the competitiveness of the local pork industry, he said, pointing out that local pork was tastier and healthier than imported pork.
“We need to compete with what is happening. We need to move against that wave (imports) by letting people know we have a good product, a local product. We know how they (the pigs) are fed. We know the age of the carcass that is killed.”
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
The post Young farmers, new brands driving innovation appeared first on Barbados Today.