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No permits will be given for the importation of eggs into Jamaica despite the ongoing shortage, Minister of Agriculture Floyd Green has declared.
Speaking at a forum on food security, Green said steps will be taken to manage the shortfall in egg production while the sector continues its slow recovery after Hurricane Beryl last July.
“We have not had to import table eggs for years. And we have no plan to do so,” Green said at a forum on ‘Championing Secure Food Production’ hosted by Jamaica Broilers Group Limited.
The country’s supply of eggs has been estimated at around 650,000 per day, well below the pre-COVID level of about 900,000 eggs per day.
Minister Green said about 43,000 laying hens were lost during Beryl while the remaining birds “suffered significant trauma” and never recovered their level of production. He noted that a period of non-stop rainfall followed, which slowed the recovery.
The agriculture minister, however, noted that egg production had increased from 166 million in 2019 to 255 million in 2023.
He said the forecast was that about 95 million eggs would be produced between January and July this year.
“It’s a reduction, but we plan to manage it in such a way that our consumers will have access to their table eggs. I think everybody now realises that these challenges are not just Jamaican challenges - these are worldwide challenges. If we work with some of the bakeries and hotels here, then we can say that you will be able to go out and get your eggs. That is a tremendous achievement for a small country,” Green said.
According to Forbes.com, the United States is in the midst of an egg shortage during which prices soared by more than 60 per cent last year with supply-chain disruptions leaving shelves sparse.
The crisis is caused by a number of issues, including an outbreak of bird flu, also known as avian flu and HPAI or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. It has affected 110 million birds, including key egg-producing states of Utah, Oregon, and Washington.
Minister Green noted that despite the challenges throughout 2024, the production of chicken meat was up three per cent over 2023.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, through its Veterinary Services Division, will be holding a sensitisation session on bird flu on March 21.
Newly appointed Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Sophia Ramlal stressed the importance of the seminar, especially because 30 per cent of broiler production comes from small farmers.
“We will have all the stakeholder agencies because a lot of what is being said about HPAI is on social media. We want to be in front of the narrative. We want to say, this is what it is, this is what we’re doing, this is what we want you to do,” Ramlal said.
With the threat of HPAI looming, Minister Green indicated a need for Jamaica to diversify its source of hatching eggs.
“Sometimes we’ve been slow in exploring alternative sources for things like hatching eggs. I think now is the time that we have to accelerate our work around that. I think if we work together as the public and private sector, we can speed up some of those processes so that when we have challenges in our main market we can move to other markets,” the Minister said.
Jamaica Broilers is the country’s largest poultry producer with products marketed under the Best Dressed Chicken brand.
The Best Dressed Chicken hatchery operations in White Marl and Cumberland, both in St Catherine, supply contract and independent farmers with day-old broiler chicks, the poultry company says on its website. Hatching eggs are selected from the company’s International Poultry Breeders operations sited locally in St Ann and overseas in the United States.
Senior Vice-President of Jamaica Broilers Ian Parsard told the Financial Gleaner that 40 per cent of the fertile eggs used in Jamaica are from the company’s Jamaican operations.
English (US) ·