Investigate the price of poultry feeds

THE EDITOR: Please permit us a space in your newspaper since this may be the only way we can voice our complaints for fear of victimisation. We are small backyard farmers and the recent prices of poultry feeds and day-old baby chicks are killing us. Just like that the prices have been increasing but one of the suppliers said that the reason is due to the rising price of grains since Government had increased import taxes, electricity and minimum wage. It so happens that the owners of the feed mills and hatcheries are the same big chicken people and they are taking advantage of us. Imagine in 2003, we used to grow among us about 100,000 chickens per month but have since been reduced to just under 15,000.

Now the same producers have increased their own production and growing the rest for themselves as they are the ones who regulate the supplies of chicks we purchase and the price we must pay. We really prefer to purchase our feeds from National Flour Mills feed mill division, but the producers often threaten to cut-off our supplies of chicks or our credit which we must depend on from them because NFM does not produce any chicks. We understand that the Table Egg Farmers are also brewing up over-high feed prices that are causing the price of table eggs to constantly increase. It will be horrors on high prices this Christmas. But that is a different drama that will definitely need a big investigation too.

Just as the Prime Minister did with imported chickens in the recent Budget, we too are asking Government to take off the duties from finished imported feeds so we can import our own feeds very much cheaper than local feeds. The feed millers are really taking us for granted. They should have a heart because they are already making a killing on the chicken market. They should also stop using farmers’ names to win support from Government. We also know of strange things happening among the suppliers. We urgently call for an investigation on the price of poultry feeds. Enough is enough! For too many years we have been under severe pressure and mercy of the powers!

J SOLOMON
Arima
Small Back Yard Farmer