By Robert Andre Emmanuel
A senior official within the Antigua and Barbuda Layer Farmers’ Association says government’s announcement yesterday of striking an agreement to stave off a price hike for eggs is inaccurate.
Cabinet claimed, in its weekly report, that it had successfully averted an immediate price increase on eggs following talks with the Layer Farmers’ Association.
It followed Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s warning to local farmers that the government was considering removing all duties, taxes, and restrictions on imported eggs in a bid to keep prices down.
During Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, industry representatives reportedly presented their case for a $2 increase in wholesale egg prices, citing increased heat causing chickens to produce fewer eggs than normal, and the increase in feed prices.
The government announced three separate measures to crack down on the rising cost of eggs.
Firstly, a study will be undertaken by an accounting firm within the next 60 days to determine the costs farmers incur to produce one dozen eggs.
Secondly, the Cabinet said that they would establish a Poultry Board made up of between five to seven members, representing the Ministry of Agriculture and the Layer Farmers’ Association, with an accountant, and the Chief Veterinary Officer also sitting as members.
The Cabinet also agreed that a discount promised on water would be enacted.
Last year, then Minister of Agriculture Chet Greene announced that all registered farmers would be able to get subsidised water from the Antigua and Barbuda Public Utilities Authority (APUA).
However, Valerie Edwards, General Secretary of the Layer Farmers’ Association, told Observer that the announcement by the government of an agreement was “news to her”.
“There was never an agreement between the association and the government, so I don’t know where they come up with that because we told them that what was discussed in the Cabinet that we needed to take it back to the members because they’re of the misconception that we are the ones that make the decision,” Edwards said, noting that there are farmers who are not members of the association and thus need to be consulted.
She added that, on the heels of a meeting with around 40 farmers Wednesday night, a press release detailing their demands would be subsequently issued.
The government, in its Cabinet notes, said that it had reached out to neighbouring islands to assess whether they were experiencing similar calls for egg price increases.
They claimed that egg prices in many Caribbean countries were lower than in Antigua and Barbuda despite similar climate conditions.
However, across the region, a number of factors have led to an increase in egg prices.
Jamaica recently reported that farmers were also considering a price hike, citing unsustainable production costs amid other factors such as Hurricane Beryl, while in Trinidad and Tobago it was reported earlier this year that the country was facing a shortage of eggs due to adverse weather conditions hindering egg production and two separate increases in feed costs within six months.
Ambassador Lionel Hurst, Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s office, stated, “We had asked a number of Caribbean countries to provide us with the cost of eggs in their supermarkets and it turns out, virtually all of them I think with the exception of Barbados, had lower prices than Antigua… and some of them are not producers of feed.”
The government also expressed further concern that the association importing feed to sell to its own members was not good business practice.
Hurst said, “The Cabinet is determined to ensure that the cost of eggs remains affordable to the lowest income earners in Antigua and Barbuda.”
