The Brazilian Bulldozer

Jun 26, 2026 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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(Kaieteur News) – The local livestock industry has always had its challenges but there was a time when the livestock farmer could earn a decent living. The cattle rancher braved droughts, floods, rustlers, marauding jaguars and government promises. The poultry farmer rose before dawn, tended his birds, borrowed from the bank, prayed for no outbreak of disease and hoped that the market would reward his efforts.

Today, many of these farmers are discovering that the greatest threat to their existence is not nature, not disease and not even incompetence. It is a truckload of beef and chicken imported – and in some cases smuggled – from Brazil.

The local livestock industry is in deep trouble. From cows to chickens, from goats to pigs, the sector is reeling. But nowhere is the pain being felt more severely than among cattle farmers and poultry rearers, who now find themselves locked in a contest between local production and imports.

The irony is thick.  For years Guyanese were told that agriculture was the future. Billions were spent on farm to market roads, drainage, irrigation and development programmes. Farmers were encouraged to expand production. Some borrowed heavily to do so. Then, just as they prepared to reap the rewards, cheaper imports arrived and began to devour the market.

Take beef. Brazilian beef is now appearing on the local market at prices that local cattle farmers simply cannot match. The consequences have been devastating. Local cattle producers are finding it increasingly difficult to secure markets for their animals. Buyers naturally gravitate to the cheaper product. Price, after all, has a persuasive vocabulary. A supermarket manager looking at two cuts of beef rarely pauses to contemplate patriotism. He studies the price tag.

The result is that cattle farmers are being squeezed from every direction. Floods periodically destroy pastures and livestock. Rising costs increase the expense of production. Now imported beef threatens to complete the destruction of the industry. What the floods may not accomplish, competition from Brazil may well finish.

Yet amid this crisis, an important question remains unanswered. Who exactly is importing this beef?

The government has not publicly disclosed the names of those granted licences to import beef. This omission has fuelled suspicions and allegations that access to licences is reserved for the fortunate few. Whether these allegations are true or false is almost beside the point. Transparency exists precisely to eliminate suspicion.

If licences are being issued fairly, then publish the names. Publish the criteria. Publish the procedures. Sunlight remains the cheapest disinfectant ever invented.

The same troubling pattern is evident in the poultry industry. For years Guyanese have heard declarations that the country is self-sufficient in chicken. Yet consumers continue to pay more than G$500 per pound for locally produced chicken. If this is self-sufficiency, it appears to be a particularly expensive version of it.

Meanwhile, imported Brazilian chicken continues to arrive and, despite attracting substantial tariffs, often reaches consumers at prices below those of local producers. This reality exposes an uncomfortable contradiction. How can an industry be genuinely competitive if imported chicken can absorb transportation costs, duties and tariffs and still undersell the domestic product?

The answer is that something is fundamentally wrong. Local poultry farmers invest millions in pens, feed, labour and veterinary care. They provide employment. Yet these farmers now find themselves competing against imported products that seem capable of entering the market at prices that defy ordinary economic logic.

Predictably, the strain is beginning to show. Margins are shrinking for those rearing meat birds. And for cattle farmers, the losses are mounting. Farmers now spend their time calculating how long they can survive.

Again, the question arises: who is receiving these import licences? The public deserves to know. More importantly, local producers deserve to know. What are the requirements for a license? What standards must applicants satisfy? How many licences have been granted? To whom? On what basis?

These are not unreasonable questions. They are the questions that naturally arise whenever government decisions affect livelihoods and millions of dollars in commerce.

Food security cannot rest solely upon imports. A nation that abandons its farmers eventually discovers that dependence is a poor substitute for production.

The livestock industry does not require sympathy. It requires fairness. It requires transparency. It requires policies that do not leave local producers wondering whether they are expected to compete against foreign imports with one hand tied behind their backs.

Until the government reveals who is receiving these import licences and how they are being granted, the questions will persist. And as the questions multiply, so too will the fears of farmers watching their markets disappear beneath the advancing shadow of the Brazilian bulldozer.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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• Brazilian Bulldozer, livestock farmer, local livestock industry, Peeping Tom

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