Bridgetown.
Eighteen dairy farmers who have been affected by a 25 percent cut in their quota from the Pine Hill Dairy received financial assistance from the Government of Barbados.
The Ministry of Agriculture have distributed $1.5 million from the Agriculture Development Fund, to assist the farmers with the payment of expenses accumulated after the quota was implemented last September.
Chairperson of the Farmers Committe Annette Beckett, told the media though the farmers were grateful for the assistance a more permanent solution must be found.
Beckett said the committe is due to meet with the PHD at the end of the month to negotiate the cuts for March, April and May.
"You can therefore see how timely this monetary assistance is. It will go along way in helping the farmers deal with the tremendous losses from these nine months", Beckett said.
She explained that the dairy indsustry is one of the few agricultural sectors that can meet all of the island's requirements, with a quality product which helps with food security and saves foregin exchange.
The money will be distributed by a formala worked out by the dairy producers. Each farm will receive between $60,00 and $100,000.
