KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Agricultural Society [JAS] has warned that the announcement by the Government that it is considering the temporary removal of import and stamp duties from imported leg quarters could prove more damaging to Jamaica socially and economically than the COVID-19 pandemic.

JAS President Lenworth Fulton sounded the warning in a statement on Wednesday. He was responding to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Pearnel Charles Jr, who told the Parliament on Tuesday that the administration was considering the move to help cushion the continued increase in the price of poultry products with the price of chicken going up by 17 per cent over the past 12 months.

READ: Gov’t intervenes – Minister announces measures to make chicken meat more affordable

Jamaica Broilers last week announced a further 10 per cent increase due to rising costs. The latest increase is set to take effect at the end of the month.

READ: Chicken prices soar again

But, Fulton believes the move would be disastrous, causing more harm than good.

“The pending removal [of duties] places the progress and investment made by over 150,000 small farmers in great jeopardy.  They took their remittances, partner payouts, severance pay, small business and family loans and other income and invested in the construction of chicken houses and the production of poultry,” he stated.

He added that while the larger poultry companies may withstand the impact of this drastic measure, “our small farmers who are currently producing chicken for sale at $240 – $290 per lb clearly will not”.  

Fulton argued that at the onset of the pandemic, thousands of Jamaicans turned to poultry farming as a means of survival.

“With the resulting contraction in the local economy, Jamaica’s poultry sector actually expanded.  Many Jamaicans who had been laid off from their jobs quickly identified an opportunity to provide for their families through broiler production – the six-week cash crop – and chicken production levels for small farmers rose to 39 per cent of Jamaica’s aggregate output as of December 2021,” Fulton noted.

The JAS president highlighted that there was reduced availability of imported chicken necks and backs because of efforts on the part of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries to limit importation and stimulate local productivity.

“Very soon, fresh, home-grown chicken meat was being sold at similar prices to imported chicken of uncertain production dates and origin,” he said.

Now Fulton is concerned that the proposal by the government to remove the duties on imported leg quarters will effectively eliminate the market for small poultry farmers. He warned that this would erode the integrity and sustainability of the local poultry sector which all stakeholders, led by the ministry, have worked so hard to build over the last two and a half decades.

“The livelihood of thousands of Jamaicans will be at risk and the fresh, wholesome chicken produced by these farmers will remain in their freezers or at best have to be sold at a price to compete with the imports, thereby robbing them of recovering their investment, bringing financial ruin for many and exacerbating the ongoing crisis with violent crime,” said Fulton.

The parliamentary Opposition raised similar concerns to the JAS during Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Representatives.

Despite his concerns, Fulton said the minister’s accompanying announcement of a $50 million subsidy to cover various input costs for poultry farmers is welcome.

“And it is this type of thinking that the industry needs more of. But that, respectfully, will not, in and of itself, offset the devastation,” he said.

Fulton said it’s not just small farmers who will suffer.

“Consider the over 500 farm store owners and their own ecosystems, who base their livelihood on the sales of feed and chicks and associated products. 

He pointed out that the production of the high volumes of poultry feed subsidises the production cost of the much smaller volumes associated with other animal feeds.

“With the reduction in poultry feed will come higher prices for all animal feeds, as there will be no benefit of economies of scale to be realised from such low volumes of feed production.  And the downward spiral of the livestock industry will commence”.

“When you compromise the poultry sector in this way, pig farmers, ruminant farmers, cattle farmers are all left exposed,” said the JAS boss. He is urging the minister to have broad consultation across the industry.

“Meet with the JAS, meet with the small farmers and their families, speak with RADA and Jamaica 4H Club members so as to have a better understanding of the impact and ramifications of implementing a policy such as this, in order to assess the degree of fallout in the sector,” Fulton pleaded.

“Minister, there are 150,000 good reasons not to take this approach,” he said.