Poultry AGM Meets; Industry Is Steady

On Monday evening, the Belize Poultry Association held its annual general meeting at the Biltmore Hotel.  Producers from across the country came together for a comprehensive presentation on the state of the industry.  While the chicken business continues to be the hallmark of best practices within the agro-productive sector, the aim is for Belizean produce to penetrate the regional market within CARICOM.

David Reimer

David Reimer, Chair, Belize Poultry Association

“As chair of the BPA and the Caribbean Poultry Association, I have been quite busy.  The CPA held a fourth annual symposium in Barbados and we attended with several member of our two expert approval companies to take the firsthand look at the market in Barbados and Trinidad.  Several countries have applied to CARICOM for risk analysis to be done so that they may export to the Caribbean.  The CPA is strongly against considering of poultry imports from these countries which are Chile, Brazil, Russia and Mexico.”

Jose Alpuche

Jose Alpuche, C.E.O., Ministry of Agriculture

“It’s one of the industries that, as I said, in my remarks, actually demonstrates what we’re hoping to achieve within the Ministry of Agriculture and that’s quality product, consistency of supply and at a competitive price and we believe that the poultry sector which is made up of quite a few hundred small farmers who have actually achieved that.  So we always come here to speak with them.  We have quite an open door with them and we’re working towards opening access into CARICOM and that’s what one of the key issues going forward.”