Government poultry symposium a gimmick with arrogance and abuse – Farmers

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Poultry farmers are dissatisfied with the choices the Government of Guyana gave during a recently held symposium at the Author or Chung Conference Center.

Farmers told Credible Sources that there is no chicken shortage in Guyana, and the framers explained that there is an adequate amount of chicken on the market. Farmers however noted that the chickens received from suppliers are not properly vaccinated and the poor quality of feed produced by local feed suppliers has them running at a loss in their production of chickens.

The farmers further explained that they are running at such a loss because instead of having 5 to 6 pounds of birds in six weeks they are only producing 4 to 4.5 pounds of chicken with some chickens staggering at 3 pounds with this situation the poultry farmers are forced to take their birds for another week or two which also drives up the cost per production.

The farmers said during the symposium President Irfaan Ali was very arrogant in terms of answering questions which left many of them unhappy and with regret of attending that symposium. One such example was a farmer who claimed he was having 15% mortality, the president response was poor at best. Ali doubted the farmer, while farmers all agreed that with 15% mortality, you are running at a loss but you cannot doubt the farmer that he cannot get such a high mortality rate.

The farmers believe that President should have instructed the CEO of Guyana Livestock and Development Authority (GLDA) to get his staff to work along with that farmer in order to bring down his high mortality rate instead of ‘busing’ out the farmer and leave him like that. Farmers are asking the President to stop the political gimmicks listen to poultry farmers and offer real solutions. The farmers said the Presidents intervention meant nothing, stating that unless he can negotiate with the banks to review their poultry loan requirements to benefit the small man.

Farmers expressed that President Ali claimed to have intervened in, 5% and below depending on the amount you’re borrowing is great, but looking at young persons who are now venturing into poultry farming and also those who had already took loans from these commercial banks but run at a loss due to poor feed and vaccination quality, if one look at the requirements that was set by Dememra Bank Ltd, President Ali needs to firstly tell the nation where would a young fresh poultry farmer find those requirements to acquire a loan of $500,0000 or less.

Farmers say that it’s all a political gimmick to bring down the interest rates but asked about the requirements. Farmers believe there needs to be a review of those requirements. Farmers said most of our small and medium scale poultry farmers are operating on their own and do not have the kind of collateral the bank is asking for and with that it forces them to take loans at the Institute of Private Enterprise and Development (IPED) which has an interest rate of 20% to 30% but their requirements are minimal.