KINGSTON, Jamaica – The poultry sector is continuing on a growth path with farmers expanding their production to meet local needs and to begin to focus on addressing regional demand, says Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green.
He noted that the sector has seen a 22.4 per cent increase per annum over the last 10 years.
Green, who was addressing the recent opening of Caribbean Broilers (CB) Group’s multimillion-dollar air chill poultry processing plant in Hill Run, St Catherine, noted that despite losing more than 300,000 birds in Hurricane Beryl, the poultry/broiler sector showed a 3.3 per cent growth at the end of 2024.
“We have also seen that growth in egg production, which again, we probably do not speak about enough, was one of the major successes of the agricultural sector. In 2019, our egg production was 166 million eggs. In 2023, we produced 255 million eggs, representing a 54 per cent increase,” the minister reported.
He said that despite the effects of the hurricane, there has been less than a five per cent reduction in the egg production sector.
Green noted that the poultry sector, though its “mother farm approach” has been demonstrating the blueprint for success in agriculture for several years.
“The large firms are providing leadership and guidance to the smaller operators, training them in good agricultural practices, good animal husbandry, offering high-quality inputs so that they can improve productivity, reduce mortality, and more than that, get greater returns on their investment,” he pointed out.
Green hailed CB Group’s new Air Chill Poultry Processing Plant as an investment in Jamaica’s agricultural sector.
The facility, which will see CB Chicken’s processing operations in Kingston to St Catherine being accommodated under one roof, will also enable a shift from water-based processing to air-chilling, a technology which uses cold, purified air to reduce the temperature of the birds after slaughter.
Air chilling improves the taste of the chicken, reduces the risk of cross-contamination and saves on the use of water.
The minister noted that the CB Group’s investment in research and development has benefited farmers across the length and breadth of Jamaica.
“Even our backyard farmers now, because of the work done in poultry, are producing much higher numbers,” he said.
The minister noted that the work being done by the CB Group through NutriMix and its genetic station in Old Harbour, St Catherine, is improving the breeds to farmers and ensuring that they get chicks at an affordable cost while also providing them with veterinary services.
This integrated approach, he said, has not just benefited the company but agriculture in general.
-JIS
