Guyana could halt chicken imports within a month as local supply recovers

Guyana could stop importing chicken within a month as local production recovers from a shortage and supplies improve, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said on Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Mustapha said the number of containers being imported had fallen to about two from five or six.

“We are about to be back to normalcy because the import has dropped tremendously. When you had six or five containers used to come in, it’s just about two now,” he said.

The government approved imports of approximately 330,000 pounds of chicken a week in August to ease a shortage, meet rising demand and prevent price increases while local producers raised output.

Mustapha said the decision followed discussions with the poultry producers’ association and an assessment of production, supply and demand.

“The demand has increased because more workers are in the country, more people are buying these things,” he said.

The minister said restoring supply after the shortage had taken time. He expects imports to decline further over the next two to three weeks and potentially end within a month if the recovery continues.

The government has also highlighted investments in domestic poultry production, including six tunnel-ventilated pens operated by young people.

Mustapha said the pens have six-week production cycles and form part of efforts to increase local output to meet growing demand.

Source: NEW ROOMS SITE