THE Government yesterday announced a 260 per cent hike in duties on imported chicken, chicken parts and vegetables and immediately won kudos from the farmers’ association who said the tariff was in the “national interest”.

The new duty regime, which takes effect next week, exempts chicken necks and backs, but includes carrots, lettuce, cabbage and tomatoes.

“The minister is acting in the national interest,” said Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) president, Bobby Pottinger, who argued that the low prices for dumped chicken and vegetables have deterred traders from purchasing local products.

“The playing field is not level; we are already buying inputs for the poultry industry — eggs, wires, medicine and feeds — from overseas,” Pottinger told the Observer.

Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke made the announcement of the new tariff at a workshop organised by the Caribbean Poultry Association Tunnel Ventilation School at The Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston. However, he made it clear that the high duties would not continue indefinitely.

The increased duties, according to Clarke, will be inclusive of 100 per cent common external tariff and 80 per cent additional stamp duty.

Chicken parts at present attract an 86 per cent duty, while that for vegetables is almost 40 per cent.

Jamaican chicken processors have, for years, been complaining that imports were negatively impacting on their operations.

In fact, the island’s largest single processor of chicken meat, Jamaica Broilers, in July 2000 complained that the company had noticed a decline in both the sale of chicken meat and baby chicks because of the importation of leg quarters. Small farmers, the company said then, were cautious about the purchase of the baby chicks because the importation of leg quarters made it difficult to sell their produce once the birds are grown.

Jamaica last year produced 85,828.2 tonnes of chicken meat, up 11.3 per cent over the previous year.

Clarke had told Parliament Wednesday in his budget presentation that the industry continued to benefit from improved efficiency, consequent on a reorganisation of the major broiler companies, in addition to efforts by government to stem illegal imports.

In his speech yesterday, Clarke said: “Four years ago, when I became minister of agriculture, I had to introduce some unorthodox measures to save the poultry industry, as cheap chicken parts were coming into the island, while millions of kilos of locally-produced chickens were in storage. So, the government limited the amounts which were allowed in by informal traders, then introduced a registration system which required importers to have proper storage facilities, but limited the number of containers which each could bring into the island.”

But he told the regional poultry farmers yesterday to share resources and common experiences to reduce the cost of production for the sustainability of the industry.

“The region will have to become competitive. Chicken is being produced in the US for a set price and we have to find a way to do likewise. We cannot continue to be high cost producers. But the change can only come if farmers put in efficient systems to meet demand,” Clarke said.

Pottinger admitted that low productivity has contributed to the higher cost of some local farm products, but said locally-produced goods were of a better quality and taste than those coming in.

At the same time, he disclosed that the JAS, will be utilising the $10-million provided in the government’s capital budget for its marketing programme, which, among other things, will be grading vegetables with those in the higher grade attracting a better price. The programme, he said, should start by June.

The JAS president said a large quantity of imported chicken coming into Jamaica was second grade meat from the United States, but which has been rejected by Russia “because it has a higher level of hormones”, and questioned why the Bureau of Standards had allowed it to enter the island.

CEO of Jamaica Broilers, Robert Levy, told the workshop that the traditional sugar and banana industries, which once brought economic buoyancy to the Caribbean, were failing. Therefore, the poultry industry will have to be competitive to take advantage of the global market.