Chicken shortage may roll over into September – GPPA

The current shortage of chicken in Guyana is likely to roll over into September although it was expected to come to an end by mid-August.

Director of the Guyana Poultry Producers Association (GPPA), Patrick De Groot in an interview with Guyana Times on Monday explained that a few other major chicken manufactures are still short of the produce.
He is anticipating that production should return to normalcy by the second week in September.
He was keen to note that although there may be a shortage of meat supply, eggs are still being sold as normal on the market as no shortage has been recorded.
Further, De Groot indicated that he was made to understand that chicken smugglers are still at work. In fact, he related that a few smugglers were caught by agents of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) over the weekend.
De Groot said that while not properly briefed on the issue, he is aware that chicken in commercial quantities was seized.
As a result of the shortage, small chicken businesses were forced to cease operations and as such, this has taken a toll on their livelihood.
On July 24, the Guyana Livestock and Development Authority (GLDA) announced the shortage of chicken.
The Authority said based on their records, there has been a reduction in the number of cases of hatching eggs imported when compared to 2018 and without a doubt, this was attributed to the shortage.
Additionally, some farmers have also been complaining of reduced growth rates and higher mortality, which resulted in the reduction of poultry meat on the market.
One week later, the GPPA had stated that local poultry farmers were thrown off-balance by chicken smugglers. According to the Association, smuggling of chicken in large quantities began in early 2018.
It explained at that time that Suriname only had a five per cent duty on imported chickens, which resulted in the meat bird being imported into the country in large quantities from the United States and Brazil legally. The poultry was then smuggled across the Surinamese border into Guyana.
Further, the GPPA had stated that the surplus lasted from May 2018 to March 2019, which accounted for the largest glut of chicken Guyana has ever experienced.
The GPPA further noted that last month, the duty on imported chicken to Suriname climbed from five to 40 per cent, which put a dent in the smuggling business.
Moreover, it said the Enforcement Department of the GRA would have stepped up its campaign against chicken smuggling. “It appeared that their efforts resulted in large seizures of chicken brought in illegally from across the border.”
Additionally, in March of this year, the Poultry Association said farmers were left with excess birds in their pens which were between 12 and 15 weeks old although the normal growth period was six weeks.
This too, played a part in the current shortage.