It was not a happy holiday weekend for cattle and poultry at several farms in south and central Trinidad as many depots are out of animal feed.Former president of the Unified Farmers Association Shiraz Khan said farmers are unable to get dairy rations and cracked corn anywhere. Khan said the National Flour Mills (NFM) could not say when there will be another supply. Khan, who resigned from the association following the general elections last August, said farmers travelling from Point Fortin to the NFM depot in Carlsen Field last week left empty-handed. Although their cattle can eat grass, he said it was insufficient for the high milk productions that the country needs.”I have some feed, but the main amount of feed like cracked corn and dairy rations is not available. Several farmers in the Carlsen Field area cannot get any. Normally we would have gotten feed from National Flour Mills’ Carlsen Field depot. Normally we would get our weekly supply of feed from there. For the past two or three weeks, we have not been getting cracked corn.”Farmers went looking for the dairy ration, but they cannot get it. People from Point, who come up to Carlsen Field to get their feed have not been getting from them or other feed manufacturers,” Khan said. Guardian Media was informed that Master Mix Feeds shut down its operation a week ago due to a shortage of raw material caused by delayed shipments. It was mainly due to increased purchase of raw material by China. However, the shortage is not limited to T&T as there were requests for support from feed manufacturers in Guyana and Suriname. Guardian Media understands that shipments arrived in Trinidad last week and the supply should normalise soon.Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Clarence Rambharat said there was an issue stemming from the United States of America, which has resolved. Rambharat said that in the interim, local poultry producers with stock shared with other suppliers who were without feed.
