By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER of Agriculture V Alfred Gray yesterday said his ministry will await the results of tests ordered on a batch of feed from the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation’s (BAIC) Feed Mill as he pushed back against “speculation” that recent livestock deaths were linked to contaminated feed.

Noting the timing of recent pig deaths at the Gladstone Road Agricultural Centre (GRAC) and several “swimming pigs” in Exuma, Mr Gray suggested that there could be a wider issue impacting livestock, similar to the canine distemper outbreak in 2014. However, he urged the public to await the results of testing.

“Several animals have died in Exuma, several animals have died at Gladstone Road, so it may be something in the air,” Mr Gray said. “And the Exuma pigs did not eat our (BAIC) food so remember when we had the dog’s temper (sic), where dogs were just falling down dead.

“It may be something that is airborne, we don’t know. That’s why I need to have the results of the test because without those results everybody is speculating.”

In a Tribune report last week, farmers claimed that gross mismanagement at BAIC was responsible for hundreds of livestock deaths since Hurricane Matthew last October.

One insider confirmed that 40 adult hogs and scores of suckling pigs at the GRAC piggery have died within the past two months.

At that time, the BAIC Feed Mill had been shut down for nearly three weeks, intensifying the economic hardship experienced by farmers last year, as they have to purchase feed at retail prices from local distributors, essentially paying double the cost for half the amount.

The insider alleged that the feed was contaminated by mouldy corn that was ordered from the US but spoiled due to improper storage.

It was further alleged that officials knew that the feed was compromised but decided to “take a gamble” due to the heavily politicised nature of the sector, which saw more than half of the staff at the corporation replaced by non-technical political placements.

Yesterday, Mr Gray said: “I don’t know why the famers would conclude it’s the feed that caused the disaster which they befall. We have selected some of the food, sent it off for testing and we are awaiting for the conclusion of the test. I think that’s a reasonable position because we don’t want to agree with them before we know conclusively whether the food was contaminated.”

He continued: “That batch of food is finished that they claim might have been contaminated, but I’m not joining them in that regard because I’m not sure. I’m awaiting the results of the test.”

Mr Gray confirmed that the feed mill was now operational and that there has been a new shipment of food.

He insisted that the corporation did have a nutritionist on site, and that it only lacked sufficient testing facilities to test for contaminants.

“We have a nutritionist on site,” he said. “What we do not have is sufficient testing facilities to test for poison and the rest of it and so we have to send it to our lab. The feed mill doesn’t have it. We send it to the lab at Gladstone Road site and they are doing the testing for us.”