The Barbados Advocate reports that furthermore, they urged that returning to bigger chickens, reverting to the practices utilised in 2007, maybe the solution. Asserting that the size of chickens on the market plays a significant role as well when looking at poultry production by weight, the Board pointed out that the average size of locally produced whole chickens has dropped from 1.71 kilograms to 1.43 kilograms over the six-year period.

On Friday (11 July), in a press conference at the BADMC’s Princess Alice Highway office, Chairman of the Board Shawn Tudor disclosed that, "The Board notes that as feed prices, and consequently consumer prices, for local poultry have risen since 2008, ... the average weight of chickens marketed by the local poultry producers has fallen 16 per cent."

Therefore, the Board posits that the 70 per cent decline in production by weight can simply be attributed to the drop in bird weight.

He said, "The Board of BADMC calculates that the decline in the average chicken size accounts for some 2 400 000 kilograms of 3 400 000 kilograms reduction in poultry production claimed by the local industry."

So going forward instead of making "groundless claims", Mr Tudor asserted, "It therefore stands to reason that the industry could immediately recover the 2 400 000 kilograms fall in production by marketing chickens weighing on average 1.71 kilograms instead of 1.43 kilograms."