According to The Barbados Advocate, in his speech last week, Minister of Finance Christopher Sinckler outlined that there would be a rebate of $500 for each gilt raised to breeding stage.

“That provision is for the advantage of the farming community and I encourage you to use it, especially at this time when you have high costs of imports that you have to find ways to decrease these and certainly there is an opportunity here for you the farmer to take advantage of this specific incentive,“ stated Barbados Agricultural Society’s Chief Executive Officer James Paul, noting that this would cushion some of the impact of high costs.

He said the BAS would be working with the farmers to ensure that they were able to access this incentive, noting that traditionally there was always a problem in receiving these.

“What we are hoping to do is to work more closely with the farming community and the ministry, in order to look at whatever bottle necks might exist and what difficulties might exist in order to facilitate you getting accessing those incentives,“ the government backbencher stated.

Noting that there was certain criteria to be met by individuals before they could receive the incentive, he said that the BAS would be discussing these with government.

“Once you have satisfied the criteria that has been laid out, you should be able to quickly get access,“ he said, noting that government was seeking to find innovative ways to help farmers reduce their production costs.

He made the comments while addressing yesterday’s Environmental Management and Biogas on Pig Farms in Barbados Workshop, held at the Divi Southwinds Beach Resort.