The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

“Market vagaries” cost the Bahamas a $14 million poultry production investment, it has been revealed, with uncertainty over tariffs and standards placing local farmers at a competitive disadvantage.

The Bahamas Trade Commission’s Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee called for a clear policy on market access for the sector, warning that consistent tariff reductions since the mid-1990s had undermined Bahamian producers by exposing them to “heavily subsidised” imports.

The committee’s findings, contained in the Trade Commission’s annual report, detailed how Bahamian production had been “destabilised” by the issuance of imports for products that were in plentiful supply locally.

And opportunities for the estimated 2,100 farmers in the Bahamas to supply their products to the hotel industry were being hindered by the absence of standards, and related certification, for their goods.

Finally, the Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee said the absence of laboratories that could test food and plant exports for health/safety meant the Bahamas was also losing out on export and other trade opportunities.

“The Government of the Bahamas has to present a clear policy on market access,” the Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee said.

“Small farmers and agribusiness have, for too long, been vulnerable to market vagaries which act as a disadvantage to Bahamian stakeholders. This has made the sector unattractive for investment by local agripreneurs and foreigners.

“This was a major concern with a group who wished to start a $14 million broiler (poultry) project in North Andros, but were unsettled by the existing tariff structure.”

Further details on the nature of this investment, or the group behind it, were not provided, but the Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee report said the progressive reductions in food import duties since the mid-1990s had “negatively impacted” Bahamian agricultural production and “handcuffed us” in the negotiations over accession to full World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership.

“This duty reduction policy has virtually opened the economy to suppliers, particularly the US and European Union (EU), where producers are heavily subsidised, and to suppliers in countries where labour rates are as low as $2 per day,” the report said.

“This scenario has assisted imported products in taking a sizeable proportion of the market from local producers and agribusiness.”

Calling for price controls on so-called ‘breadbasket items’ to be “re-examined” within the context of the WTO negotiations, the Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee report said the Department of Agriculture had issued import permits for plants, animals, fruits vegetables and meats with little regard for their availability locally.

“This has destabilised production, particularly in the poultry and ornamental horticulture sub-sectors,” the report warned. “There needs to be greater co-ordination between local production and market demand...

“Many producers are discouraged as there is no transparency in the process, as permits are approved by the person.”

Calling for better market monitoring and co-operation between government agencies, the Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee added: “Self-sufficiency can be achieved with a number of fruits and vegetables.

“Growers must be assured that there will not be manipulation of the market by food importers, particularly the unscrupulous ones, who use all sorts of tactics to avoid buying local, and bypass farmers and agribusiness.”

The report said the implementation of global standards, such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), were “critical” if Bahamian producers were to supply the likes of Atlantis, Baha Mar and major international resort chains present in the Bahamas.

And the Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee also called on the Bahamas to establish its own testing laboratories and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures, something it will have to do under its WTO and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) obligations.

“Presently, the lack of these facilities is constraining the development of trade with Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic,” the report warned.

“The importance of this will grow as the Bahamas seeks to engage in bilateral agreements with other countries like Jamaica and Costa Rica.”

Noting that crawfish exports to China represented a growing market for the Bahamas, the Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee said there was “no diagnostic certification” currently for export permits.

“Chinese importers will, in time, become more demanding as they will mount their own inspection procedures, as was the case with the EU, and our crawfish exports to that market,” the Agricultural and Fisheries Subcommittee said.