1 month ago
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Having gotten predictions wrong in the recent past, the country’s egg farmers are being cautious in saying when they think the shortage of eggs will end.
President of the Jamaica Egg Farmers Association Mark Campbell says he does not know when the supply of eggs, estimated at about 650,000 per day, will again reach the pre-COVID level of 900,000 per day needed to adequately service the demand which includes supplies to the important tourism sector.
“I am now reluctant to make any predictions concerning eggs because all of the predictions I have made since Hurricane Beryl have proven to be off target, because elements of the equation are missing or have been miscalculated by us,” Campbell told the Financial Gleaner on Monday.
These elements, according to Campbell, include how long it would take for the laying birds to emerge from the stress they came under as a result of Hurricane Beryl, which swiped Jamaica on July 3 last year.
“We are quite accustomed to birds being under stress in the business, lots of things can produce a stress reaction from the birds. The main thing is to pump some additional vitamins on the birds and usually they get out of it (stress) within two or three weeks maximum. So we made that projection that within three weeks the birds would have returned to their level of productivity. It never happened,” Campbell said.
Some 250,000 young birds were lost during Beryl, while others that had just reached laying age never reached the expected level of productivity of at least 85 per cent, meaning 100 birds producing at least 85 eggs per day.
Campbell estimates that Jamaica is currently producing about 650,000 eggs per day, which is much less than the demand of about 900,000 eggs per day.
“I cannot tell you now that this shortage is going to end anytime soon,” he said.
However, Jermane Eaton, owner of Agri Vybz Agriculture in Spalding, Clarendon, was more optimistic, suggesting that supplies should be back to normal by May this year.
“I’m projecting May because that’s normally a slow season. A lot of people ran to get birds (layers) for Christmas. Those birds should be hitting peak production by mid-year by my estimation,” Eaton told the Financial Gleaner.
Campbell explained that pullets start laying at the age of 18 weeks but reach peak production at 24 weeks when they normally lay one egg per day.
Peak production of 85 to 95 per cent continues for 15 to 18 months, after which laying slows to about 60 per cent. When laying reaches 50 per cent, the business is no longer viable, and the birds have to be culled.
Eaton said the time it took for electricity to be restored to some communities also contributed to the low levels of production.
“Some places were out of electricity for two or three months, while the birds need 16 hours of light to produce. So, if you didn’t have solar lighting, your production rates dropped,” he said.
In a move to increase production across the island, the two hatcheries producing pullets are putting new birds into the field starting this month, instead of the usual February and March. Campbell said. This he said would ensure the more supplies come into the market a month earlier than normal.
Meanwhile, Campbell dismissed the view that the birds lay less during the cool months. During those times they are fed 20 per cent more feed in order to increase their production levels, he explained.
The egg farmer also dismissed the call by some businesspersons that the government should allow the importation of eggs on a temporary basis to meet the demand.
“We have been self-sufficient in eggs for more than 20 years which is a wonderful thing for the country. We frowned upon the idea from some people, particularly the big bakeries, that we should import. We work very closely with the Ministry of Agriculture whose data department produces reliable information on the movement of eggs throughout the island,” Campbell said.
A quarterly meeting of industry stakeholders, including the farmers and representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, is expected to take place later this month to address the issues in the sector.
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