Barbados Agricultural Society chief executive James Paul’s warning that imports could undercut poultry and pork farmers heading into Christmas is not a new complaint. 

It is the latest round in a dispute that has run through much of 2026, even as the sectors he represents post two consecutive years of strong domestic production.

In July, Paul told reporters that Barbados’s poultry industry should be able to meet 100% of local demand without any imports at all, pointing to cold storage facilities running at capacity as both commercial and independent farms struggled to move inventory. He urged government to review trade policy, close regulatory loopholes, and restrict or temporarily suspend competing meat imports to give the domestic market room to absorb the surplus.

The Ministry of Agriculture pushed back. Chief Agricultural Officer Paul Lucas said at a briefing that the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation, the state enterprise responsible for managing poultry imports, keeps volumes under strict, data-driven control. Lucas presented first-half 2026 figures showing import volumes had fallen even as domestic demand held steady, and acknowledged that local production had climbed enough that the poultry committee now needs to weigh how to manage what he described as a risk of overproduction rather than shortage.

That gap in interpretation, farmers describing a market being flooded while officials describe controlled and declining imports, has defined the standoff. Paul has also raised a narrower concern: imports arriving outside the BADMC’s own approval process, which historically required all poultry shipments to be sanctioned before entry. He has argued that some importers are sidestepping that code of practice altogether.

The pork side of the dispute has centred on tariffs as much as volume. Paul has previously argued that some imported pork products enter Barbados at duty rates below what should apply, undercutting local producers on price even before volume becomes a factor. He has called on the government to correct the tariff schedule, arguing that the discount benefits importers rather than consumers.

Heading into this Christmas season, Paul’s tone was notably more measured than in July’s crisis warnings. He told Barbados Today this week that the poultry and pork sectors are well positioned to meet holiday demand, a marked shift from statements earlier in the year describing farmers as being pushed toward collapse.