The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian poultry producer yesterday said it was “just crazy” that 50-60 per cent of its avocados are simply being “wasted on the ground”, as it blamed Bahamian wholesalers for not buying.

Lance Pinder, operations manager at Abaco Big Bird, which also produces avocados for sale, told Tribune Business: “It’s just crazy; 50-60 per cent of our avocados are being wasted on the ground. 

“We are to the last of it now, but if you call some of the wholesalers in Nassau you don’t even get to price or quality; they don’t even want to talk to you. You can’t even get anywhere. When that’s the case, the Government has to get involved. We know that Bahamians eat avocados.”

Mr Pinder added: “The avocado issue has happened every year for the past seven to eight years when we haven’t had a hurricane. You call some of the big people in Nassau and, if you’re lucky, they say they’ll take five cases or something; that’s a joke.

“Our avocados are organic and we are now working on getting them certified. BAMSI was up here the other day and gave us all the details about how to go about getting them certified. It’s a really good product and we have them from June every year until March, and can supply avocados to the country.”

    Mr Pinder yesterday welcomed news that the Government, effective March 1, will re-implement the permit system for wholesalers seeking to import poultry.

V Alfred Gray, minister of agriculture and marine resources, announced yesterday that the Government, while not yet making it mandatory, was encouraging buyers to purchase 30 per cent of their poultry locally.

According to Mr Gray, some $30 million worth of chicken is imported into the Bahamas each year. Mr Pinder said this was an important and necessary intervention by the Government to support local producers.