JAMAICA Broilers – the island’s largest chicken processors – says its Best Dressed Chicken Processing Plant at Spring Village, St Catherine has approximately three weeks’ supply of chicken in cold storage, which should be adequate to meet post-Ivan consumer demand for that protein staple.

The company’s vice president for poultry operations, Christopher Levy, said Wednesday that with the resumption of the processing of the birds Monday, Jamaica Broilers will have adequate supplies of chicken in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, which battered Jamaica between Friday and Saturday last week.

Levy said, too, that as soon as the threat of Hurricane Ivan became known the processing plant had increased production in readiness for the increased demand. “We also ensured that our cold rooms were kept at the required temperatures by our co-generation plant. which helped us to stay in operation for the entire hurricane period,” he said.

Jamaica Broilers said it had a 30 per cent loss of birds, primarily impacting contract farmers who use traditional growing units.

However, it said the company’s fish and beef farmers had escaped the wrath of Hurricane Ivan and that the poultry breeder hatching eggs operations remained intact.