By Elesha George
The government is considering adding eggs to the list of price-controlled items in response to the rising cost of eggs, according to Prime Minister Gaston Browne.
It follows news from the Antigua and Barbuda Layer Farmers’ Association that the wholesale price of eggs will increase to $14 per dozen starting next Monday.
Prime Minister Browne cited the need to explore price controls after farmers announced the price hike, saying input costs, such as packaging, freight, and feed, have soared since their last price adjustment in August 2022.
The prime minister expressed concern about what he sees as disproportionate price hikes.
“It seems as though we have to put eggs under price control because every time there’s a 10 percent increase, they want to increase their price by 20 or 30 percent,” he told Parliament.
Farmers, however, say price controls alone may not address the broader challenges facing the industry. Adrian Hall, Managing Director of the Layer Farmers’ Association, suggested that the government can play a bigger role in easing farmers’ operational costs by implementing subsidies and tax waivers.
“There are many ways the government could help farmers—through subsidies or reducing costs on essential utilities like electricity, water, and port charges for feed. They could also assist with fuel and materials if farmers had a proper system organised for them,” Hall explained.
Hall suggests that a promised subsidy system allowing farmers to access discounts by presenting a farmer’s ID card would ease some of the financial burdens.
“We’ve been speaking about that for quite a while now, and there always seems to be some kind of buck being passed, like the machine is not working or somebody is not there to sign-off on something. There’s always some issue. So, nothing ever comes to fruition really,” Hall said.
Without such incentives, the increased costs fall on customers, who have already faced at least four price hikes in recent years.
Hall also noted that promises made in 2022 regarding subsidies for utilities have not yet been fulfilled. Farmers continue to face high operational costs, such as feed, vehicle maintenance, egg processing equipment, and refrigeration.
“Maybe that’s one of the reasons they haven’t done it because they haven’t figured out how to police it, but nobody’s telling us nothing. So, we can only assume that just nothing is going to happen and nothing will happen,” he said.
And with the effects of climate change complicating weather patterns, Hall predicts the challenges for egg farmers will only worsen.
“You have things that are more out of your control that you still have to factor in. When we have like these real hot days, you have stresses that are put on the birds. So, you have losses in production, but you still have to feed the bird.
“So, it’s not like you say all the birds have stopped giving us the same amount of eggs so we’re gonna reduce the amount of feed we give them. You still have to keep feeding them otherwise you escalate that loss,” he added.
The government’s potential move to control egg prices may offer some relief to consumers, but farmers say additional support is needed to keep the industry sustainable.
