Govt. to truck supplies to critical areas

Aug 09, 2011 News

Chicken shortage…

By Leonard Gildarie

As chicken shortages continue to hit consumers hard, especially in the capital city, government yesterday said that it is moving to use its trucks to take supplies to key areas.
The Ministry of Agriculture, updating Kaieteur News yesterday, explained that the situation is not one so much of supply, but of distribution.
As early as today, refrigerated trucks of the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (New GMC) are expected to assist with distribution.
“The Ministry has noted that there are adequate supplies of chicken and that the situation of higher prices in Georgetown is primarily due to inadequate distribution, which has resulted in some retailers unjustifiably increasing the price,” Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud admitted last evening.
Despite a meeting with producers last week, the Minister said that some retailers were found to be still selling at higher prices.
“The Ministry, through New GMC, has held discussion with suppliers in other parts of the country with the aim of using its refrigerated trucks to assist with distribution to regularize prices. In the past, this type of initiative was undertaken by the Ministry until chicken prices normalized.”
The Minister warned that New GMC will continue to monitor supermarkets, wholesalers and retailers who are making “unwarranted increases” in price of poultry, meat and other products, particularly in Georgetown.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Poultry Producers Association (GPPA), in a statement released by the Ministry, said that chicken feed ingredients and other inputs have contributed to driving the prices upwards.
During early 2011, the GPPA explained, there was a major surplus of chicken being produced for the local market which caused a glut in the market for an extended period.
This forced many farmers to cut their production and the situation was further affected by the poor hatchability being experienced by a major hatchery importing eggs by sea.
The association said that it recognized the current shortfall in production on the market, which was highlighted at a meeting with the Ministry.
“The industry has already made the necessary adjustments to alleviate the problem. All hatcheries have reverted back to importing hatching eggs by air which has resulted in an increased hatchability and a greater supply of broiler chicks being available to farmers currently. Consumers will see supplies return to normal by September, 2011.”
The GPPA assured that it has put measures in place to assure adequate supplies for Christmas.
At the end of July, chicken prices had risen to $350 per pound, still lower than the $405 that was being paid during the same period last year.
On average, Guyanese consume around 900,000 pounds of chicken weekly and this rises to over 1.2M pounds during holiday periods.
Already, a significant quantity of eggs for broiler chicks are in the country and this should cater for the coming months.

Latest News

Govt. to truck supplies to critical areas

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 31st, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Rotary Club of New Amsterdam Childhood Obesity Prevention Inter...

Demerara beat Berbice by 6 wickets after Apple...

DCB Under19 Inter-Association Cricket Tournament...

Tagore Memorial Secondary School benefits from...

Hurricanes knock Eagles off course despite...

Peter’s Hall, Herstelling ‘A’ advance to...

Features/Columnists

A coalition of shared disgrace

The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation

Better contract management, info flows

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Govt. to truck supplies to critical areas

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 31st, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]