FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Jamaica Egg Farmers’ Association (JEFA) President Mark Campbell is optimistic that the current egg shortage will be resolved by November as the sector ramps up production with the introduction of 700,000 new layer birds to replace older stock.

Earlier this year, Campbell disclosed that local egg farmers were struggling to meet demand despite having replaced 250,000 birds. That effort fell short as an estimated 750,000 layers were left traumatised and non-productive following last year’s passage of Hurricane Beryl.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Thursday, he revealed that since the beginning of this month, 100,000 of the 700,000 targeted birds have already been put into production.

With phased replacement continuing in the coming months, he believes the industry is well on its way to stabilise supplies.

“We are very hopeful that things will come back into balance between demand and supply by November. We suspect it may come back before that because the demand after the peak of the tourism season usually falls off. If it follows the pattern that we have known over the years, things should be in balance before December,” Campbell noted.

President of Jamaica Egg Farmers’ Association Mark Campbell said replacement birds are being put in right across Jamaica. (Horace Hines)

“Gradually you will see the supply of eggs getting better,” he added.

Campbell is the country’s largest producer of eggs. He provided insights into the typical cycle which sees farmers getting rid of non-productive birds to make way for new stock.

“With the younger old birds that are now in the field being added to that new number [700,0000], we should average about a million or so birds in the field which will be about where the national average is,” Campbell explained.

“People, like myself, are now getting rid of their old birds that are no longer really productive and putting new birds in. That is happening right across the island. People are putting in replacement birds,” he added.

He revealed that there were only two years that Jamaica had a flock size larger than one million.

“The national average is anywhere between 950,000 and one million birds. The highest we have ever seen in Jamaica came in November 2022 [when] we had almost 1.1 million birds and in November 2023 [when] we had 1.16 million birds,” he shared.

He said that equilibrium is only disrupted if farmers “hang on to these birds way beyond their productive lifetime”.

“For example, I will get rid of my birds when they are no longer productive but another set of people will come and say, ‘Mr Campbell, I want some of the fowls.’ They take them and they continue to lay at a non-profitable rate. But they are still contributing to the total number of eggs that we have in the country, and that is where we have a problem. Some of the time we can’t track back because after a certain time we know the birds should be replaced,” said Campbell.