The COVID-19 pandemic was a turning point for many people, and Cleo Jones is no different.

The 23-year-old poultry and livestock farmer lost his party rental business due to lockdowns during the pandemic. But, instead of falling into a state of despair, Jones decided to venture into what he terms as an “essential business” — poultry farming.

After considering businesses based on the resources, knowledge and support system available to him, Jones settled on starting Raised Right Poultry Farm in Sligoville, St Catherine, in 2023, as his uncle already had a foothold in that sector.

“I was saying to myself, ‘Alright, I have an uncle that’s already doing poultry farming, I have a little bit of land space where I could set up a little operation for myself, and it would be easier also’. So, yeah, that’s how I got into farming,” Jones said.

He told JIS News that the farm began with 100 chickens in a coop, and in over two years has experienced immense growth. He now has 5,000 chickens, expanded coops and storage spaces, and in the past eight months he began raising goats and pigs.

He disclosed that he began with four pigs and four goats and, through breeding and acquisition, he now has 15 pigs and 28 goats.

Jones explained that he prefers to begin his businesses small, so he can learn from his mistakes before expanding.

“So, I started that small as well because that’s just what I like to do. So, even if I have the money to, say, go all out, I’m the person that just likes to start small to gain as much knowledge before I invest a large amount of capital into whatever it is,” he said.

“I think that’s the better way to go. You know, you grow with the business and, you learn from the mistakes as you go along,” he added.

His venture into farming does not come as much of a shock for Jones who has always loved nature. He admitted, however, that farming was not what he envisioned himself doing when he was a child.

“You know, growing up, we always wanted to go for the more orthodox professions, like, you know, you’re younger, you want to become a doctor, a lawyer, this or that. So, I wasn’t really looking along the line of starting a poultry business when I was in, like, primary school,” Jones disclosed, adding that he has no regrets with how his life has turned out.

He explained that his business is going well, with an ever-expanding customer base.

Jones credits much of his success to his social media marketing, through which he posts relatable content such as poems or songs to his personal and business online platforms. He said that from this, he would receive compliments from followers, which often turn into a business relationship being cultivated.

“I do a lot of poems and a lot of content that other persons can relate to. From there, sometimes I see restaurant owners follow me, shout out the talent, [and] tell me they love what I’m doing. From there, I just try and see how best we can do business together,” he explained.

“Sometimes, even when I go out on, what I would call a sales run to acquire new clients, I might walk into a restaurant and persons even recognise me before I say anything. Persons are like, ‘Are you the guy from social media that’s doing the chickens X, Y, Z?’ And, you know, that alone kind of gives me a little bit of leverage compared to if I was just to start off flat-footed,” Jones said.

This is a technique that works well for Jones, who is now a supplier for various meat shops, wholesales and restaurants.

He hopes to expand his poultry and livestock business even further.

“One day I would like to have my own establishment, in terms of like a wholesale or a big meat shop or a restaurant, where I know that at least I can have a market for my own product,” he said.

“Because, in business in general, you’re going to have clients that come, clients that stay. So, when I can know that, all right, I have a wholesale that can move this amount of my own products, then at least the farm has a little bit of self-sustainability,” he reasoned.

In the meantime, Jones is enjoying the product of his labour, and his booming farm. However, it is not without issues.

He shared that Hurricane Beryl, which devastated much of southern Jamaica in July 2024, did a bit of damage to one of the chicken coops and he lost some of his birds. Jones remains thankful, however, as he said it could have been worse.

He stated that majority of the issues he encounters in the business were in the initial stages, when he did not have certain knowledge about raising chickens.

“I’ve had issues where, when I just started, feed storage and so forth, insects would probably get inside of the feed and waste it and, you know, feed would probably get mouldy on me and so forth. But it’s all a learning process,” he said.

Consequently, he hopes the Government can help in providing training to poultry and livestock farmers, including best practices, and how to market the business.

He also hopes that assistance can be provided for poultry farmers to tap into bigger markets, such as chain restaurants.

“A lot of persons face marketing issues, even though we know that with the two bigger chicken companies, it’s a tough market to break into because, you know, the bigger establishments like [fast-food restaurants], they don’t really take chickens from smaller farmers. I don’t know if there’s anything that the government could do there, in terms of lobbying for us a little bit more,” Jones said.

Despite the challenges, he still recommends that young people dive into farming as a career, whether it is full-time or a way to supplement their income.