KINGSTON, Jamaica – Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture JC Hutchinson this morning expressed concern at the Government’s decision to issue licenses for the importation of four containers of leg quarters per week for the next five weeks in response to the shortage of chicken meat.

“The Opposition is not in support of the move to issue licenses for the importation of chicken meat into the island at this time,” he stated in a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) press release.

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Hutchinson says the move is not necessary as the island’s main producers of chicken meat have assured the market that the availability and supply of the product will be back to normalcy within a matter of days.

“The importation of chicken meat into the island, on the eve of a return to normalcy in terms of availability and supply, is likely to create a glut on the market and open an entirely new can of worms,” he argued.

He noted that the move would mostly affect small farmers. “Their investment and that of others would be severely compromised should there be a glut on the market, so it is absolutely ill-advised to import the volumes of chicken meat over the coming weeks that the Government is proposing to import,” Hutchinson said.