12 months ago the PLP government watched as Gladstone Chicken Farms died a slow and agonising death. This was due mainly to the absolute inaction the government demonstrated in not stopping cheap USA imports of chicken into the local supermarkets. Despite protests from Gladstone management and alerting the Government to this situation, the preference was to allow workers to be put out of jobs and an honest local industry go out of business. Sip sip at the time was that someone high up was being paid off to not stop these imports.

Now we see the government forced to address this situation again with another chicken farmer quite rightly bringing the issue to the attention of the government. The owner, a hardworking and honest Bahamian, is once again being shafted by his own government.

The feeble announcement by a government minister (can't remember who but I think it was Sears) that the Bahamian table needs a continual supply of chicken and that it requires imports when there is a shortfall is just so weak and hypocritical.

Firstly, if there is a shortfall it is because the PLP did nothing to support Gladstone farms and stop imports.

Secondly, the owner of the chicken farm about to go under is only suffering because this government still refuses to regulate the industry properly.

The smell of corruption (someone being paid to do nothing about stopping imports) is thick in the air and I am disgusted in a government masquerading as pro-Bahamian and one which says it wants to develop local primary industries. Actions speak louder than words!!

Who would have an interest in making sure the Bahamian chicken business is not regulated? You're suggesting it's the US chicken suppliers that are paying off the government, no one else could benefit from this (except of course the Bahamian consumer who gets cheaper prices).

I believe in market forces, if Bahamian chicken farmers cannot be competitive, they should be in a different trade and get out of the business. Regulating the industry will just produce higher prices for the consumer and result in inflation and less disposable income. For example, all the money saved by consumers (who are not paying extra for expensive chicken) is now spent on other goods and services in The Bahamas - the whole economy benefits.

Subsidies and Tariffs are always bad for an economy but politics always get involved and break down the free market. Of course, there will be the 'protectionists' who differ, but its just my opinion.

A terrible story. peavans!
What can we, the consumers do?
As you say, actions speak louder than words!
Perhaps we can make a point of buying Bahamian chickens. I have tasted both US and ours - there is no appreciable difference - when cooked properly. However, I am no expert.

My wife is going to the food store today. I will ask her to look for Bahamian chicks and US chickens, compare price, quality etc. I will report back to this thread..

Hi CG,

Of course the price and quality will be better with the US chicken because they have the money to purchase state of the art equipment to grow their chickens and the best medicines to keep them healthy. I know because my Grandmother farmed chickens and trust me; it is not cheap. :chicken: :chicken: :chicken: :chicken:

I think that it really all starts with the Bahamian consumer like you said “ actions speak louder than words!”. So what if my Bahamian chicken meat isn't as white as the American ones? I will still buy Bahamian because I know that my purchase will go towards the improvement of the product.

As for the Government; I have one word to say: 'Bananas'! :banana:

My wife came back from the food strore. (One of the major ones) No Bahamain chickens on sale.

Thank you CG and Delroy for your support of your country and for what is just. It is so sad CG that your wife went to the supermarket and now does not have a choice between our local product and the imported variety.

Before Gladstone Farms closed new processing plant and equipment had been recently installed under the faith that the government would stop ILLEGAL imports of foreign chickens. Sadly this wasnt the case and now our chicken industry is virtually non-existent.

Interesting to note the letter to the editor in this morning's Tribune on the same issue. Beware of this letter: the writer is 'very close to the action' as far as importing chickens is concerned. Some people have made millions already in this importation racket so they have very vested interests in slamming/damning the local product.

Can't anyone get to the bottom of this and find out who is making the money in the chicken smuggling coverup which has decimated our local industry?

Next time I hear the government talking about supporting local primary products I will throw up!

Can't anyone get to the bottom of this and find out who is making the money in the chicken smuggling coverup which has decimated our local industry?


The only way to get to the bottom is to go to the top.
Bahamas Issues is a good start! I am sure that someone on this website knows who is behind all of this smuggling activity.

I am from Eleuthera, the same thing happened to the chicken farm over there under the "old" PLP government...

Probably their not chicken farm friendly :)

"A slow, agonising death" doesn't exactly happen in the approximately four months that the PLP government was in power before Gladstone Farms closed. Any business established as long as Gladstone Farms was doesn't just close overnight.

Perhaps we need to open our eyes and look a bit further into who's behind "ChickenGate" as it were before we point fingers at the current government.

I'm sure we'd all be suprised at who could be benefitting from the proceeds of so-called "illegal" chicken imports.

So techno-bunny, are you suggesting that this government is blameless in the destruction of the chicken industry or are you making an attempt to spread the blame among others as well?

Do you know as much as me about the situation of pay offs and cover ups or are you making a feeble attempt at defending your own government of choice?

By the way: 4 months is not overnight! The industry has always been fairly marginal and 4 months is enough to kill off a marginal industry. However, i do concede there were forces in the civil service 'on the take' beyond the 4 month period you mention: it just got far worse when the PLP came in.

Imported chicken is only permitted to make up for any shortfall in the market after local producers have tried to satisfy demand. What happened was that imports flooded the market to the detriment of the locals in proportions far greater than just making up short supply. Then due to this (and Gladstone going under due to this situation), a far bigger shortfall in the local market was created which enabled the imported chicken to be freely imported knocking out all other local producers. In short, quotas at the point of entry (through customs) were ignored. Pay offs in several areas have occurred!

Bahamians have lost jobs and a much needed primary industry has been decimated.

Hi P. Evans.

No, I am not suggesting that the current government is completely blameless in the destruction of the chicen industry. I was merely (sp?) attempting to add some balance to the discussion. After all, you yourself conceded in your response that there were "forces on the take" before the current administration took office.

I think we tend to over-simplify the root cause of many of the country's problems by saying "the FNM did this" or "the PLP is doing that" rather than exploring the many economic, social and yes, often political reasons why certain things in the Bahamas aren't going the way we would like. Besides, there are persons of all political persuasions at every level of government and the civil service; and the downfall of the poultry industry in the Bahamas began long before the PLP took office. So yes, I do believe that the blame does not lie solely with the current government.

On the other side of the coin, however, I do not wish to relieve the PLP government of its responsibility to the Bahamian poultry farmers or the country as a whole. One of the hallmark of being a good supporter (yes I am a PLP) is to be able to criticize when you see things going wrong; and obviously there is something wrong when there isn't a Bahamian chicken in sight in Freeport or Nassau. That fact should disturb ALL Bahamians no matter what.

Perhaps rather than taking pot-shots at my "feeble" attempt to create further dialogue on the issue, you could perhaps enlighten the rest of us on Bahamas Issues with a more comprehensive explanation of the "pay-offs and cover-ups" and a more detailed explanation of ChickenGate. Perhaps I am being naive, but who was paid off for what and for how long? And more importantly, how has the whole thing been "covered up"?

By the way, are the customs duties on imported chicken still high? If so, how are the imported chickens able to be priced competitively with the local produce? I thought that was one of the main reasons for the high tariff on poultry in the first place. Is the government just reaping added benefits from the increase in customs revenues from the increase in imports as well? Or have the customs duties been lowered or circumvented in order for the foreign chicken to flood the market? I can understand how quotas at points of entry can be (wrongly) ignored, but if the Bahamian chicken was in an advantageous (sp?) position with a comparable product and comptetitive pricing, what else happened?

You appear to be in the know as it were, please enlighten the rest of us further.

Thanks.

Well Techno-Bunny, we need to be very careful in our further exploration of this issue by being as specifiic as you state, even under the cover of this board. However, chicken quotas were deliberately overlooked in huge amounts thus cutting the cost of the tarrifs paid. You don't pay tarrifs on goods which 'don't appear' on the books but mysteriously appear on the supermarket shelves.

Surely you have to concede that the PLP government has been making promises/undertakings about boosting primary industries, so when a major industry goes 'belly up' at the same time these pronouncements are being made and in full knowledge of the governemnt then we all have reason to be cynical about the government's sincerity in this area.

Believe me, certain people have made millions (yes millions) in the last 12 months since the local industry has been decimated. The honest local producer and the Bahamian chicken worker have suffered at the hands of greedy and ruthless connections (both local and state-side) which have been delighted with the demise of our chicken industry.

I thank you for your input techno-bunny because even though you don't exactly see eye to eye with me on the issue, you are keeping the thread alive on this important issue of corruption and deceit.

[This is certainly an interesting thread, but I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this is but a shadow of things to come. If the Bahamas and the rest of the Caribbean does not satisfactorily work together to determine that the World Trade Agreement will not adversely affect this part of the world, this is what you will see happening to the entire Bahamian economy. . . .bribery and corruption notwithstanding.

If you look at Jamaica where large US corporations have already come up and set up virtual sweatshops, and research the conditions which exist in those sweatshops, you will want to think again. This could and will happen in the Bahamas. It won't be just chicken either which is under duress. You name it, it will happen.

Small nations can not survive under this juggernaut organization called the WTO. They must set aside their traditional differences and work together in order to negotiate fair deals.

Chicken today. . . . what will it be tomorrow? The very culture of the Bahamas is at stake. If you don't believe me, examine what's on television, what movies are being shown, what your children listen to. . . .

The time to stop it all is now! Educate, inform and encourage Bahamians to set aside political differences and work together to protect the Bahamas.

Millions? :eek:

I think I'm beginning to see the picture P. Evans.

You know what always amazes me though? No matter what our political inclination may be, good old Bahamian greed and corruption always manges to sneak in and take over.

Therefore GuildLady, I understand and fully endorse your belief that the only way the Bahamas will survive in the impending "new world economy" is by working with other Caribbean countries. However, I feel that Bahamian enterprise will always get the short end of the stick as it were if those in (and out) of power continue their under-the-table/on-the-take tactics.

In this situation though I feel that the local poultry producers will lose no matter what. If their products were of comparable quality to the imports they would have nothing to worry about. But with the dirty, broken eggs and puny, feathery and equally filthy chickens, most Bahmians I know actually prefer the foreign chicken. In other words, noone will care enough to make a big stink about it.

That's a shame because not only are jobs lost and the local economy suffers when Bahamian industries fail, but the remaining businesses will have no incentive to improve their product if they can't compete fairly with the imported goods.

If you ask me, the main problem is that we're all too busy looking out for our own personal pockets rather than the common good. I suppose to expect anything else would be too idealistic huh?

:bahamas:

how did this thread slip by unoticed by many???