Despite drought, agriculture showing signs of increase…
Jamaica’s agricultural sector is showing signs of steady increase led by poultry production output which climbed to 112 million kilograms in 2015, the largest the country has seen in its history, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
The increase in poultry has also positively impacted Jamaica’s food import bill which declined by 4.8 per cent, according to the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ)-prepared 2014 Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica (ESSJ). More recent reports from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) noted that up to August 2015, expenditure on the import of food declined by 7.4 per cent from US$625.5 million to US$579.4 million over the comparative period in 2014.
“If you look at the figures, 2015 has the largest output of poultry meat in the history of our poultry production, 112 million kilograms of chicken meat in Jamaica, which is an improvement over the record 109 million kilograms in 2014,” director of MOA agricultural services, Sandor Pike, told the
Jamaica Observer at the commissioning of the Jamaica Broilers Cumberland Hatchery on Tuesday.
“It is phenomenal what the broiler companies are doing,” he added, noting that increased numbers are likely to continue into 2016.
Still, the push to provide the market with local chicken fell short over the December period, when wholesalers and consumers complained of not being adequately supplied with the protein.
“Let us recall that in 2003, when the ‘Grow what we eat, eat what we grow’ campaign was first launched, we only produced some 72 million kilograms of the roughly 90 million kilograms poultry meat we consumed locally. Currently, except for the recent situation now being addressed, we have had a consistent level of full self-sufficiency in poultry meat,” Agriculture Minister Derrick Kellier told the audience. He was guest speaker at the event.
“And, indeed, we must note that in 2015 we produced just over 112 million kilograms of chicken meat in Jamaica, an increase of 55 per cent over the 2003 figure. This sector has recorded and continues to record demand and growth, and we have every intention of continuing the growth and meeting the demand,” he added.
Meanwhile, the decline in the country’s import food bill was also impacted by the increase in supply of local Irish potatoes, onion and pork, among other areas, according to Pike. The 2014 Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica (ESSJ) indicated that over the year 2013, Irish potatoes saw a 12.4 per cent increase in production to total 19,577 tonnes at the end of 2014.
“I haven’t seen yet the last quarter report for 2015, but based on where we are in terms of the need to import, I strongly suspect that we may have done better [in 2015] than the previous year. For the first seven months of 2015 not an ounce of table Irish potatoes was imported. We’ve never done that in our history,” he told the
Caribbean Business Report.
“For the fries and other further processed potato items, those have been imported, but we have never gone that long with table potatoes. It’s quite likely it could be eight months, but I don’t want to be that definitive because I have not yet seen the monthly figure, for August,” Pike added.