KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining has announced a plan for the poultry sector, which was adversely affected during the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28.

Portfolio Minister Floyd Green disclosed that the ministry’s preliminary assessment showed that over 1.1 million birds have been lost — 458,000 layers and more than 700,000 broiler chickens.

In comparison, Green pointed out that the country lost some 300,000 chickens overall from Hurricane Beryl in 2024.

He informed that approximately $40 million has been earmarked to revitalise the backyard chicken operations.

“We’re going to be purchasing about 100,000 broiler chickens because we want to, as quickly as possible, bring back up the small backyard chicken farmer. You know… before hurricane, we are normally self-sufficient in chicken meat. Our big companies account for about 65 per cent and our small backyard farmers account for 35 per cent of our broiler chicken industry,” he noted.

Green was speaking during a farmers meeting in Guys Hill, St Catherine, on Thursday, where farmers received fertilisers, Irish potato seeds and vegetable seeds toward their farming operation.

The meeting followed a tour of several farms in the Bonnet District in the parish, where the minister saw the destruction of several chicken coops, as well as small ruminant farmers who were also affected by the hurricane.

The agriculture minister noted that in addition to providing the broiler chickens, chicken feed will be supplied, and that there is an infrastructure component where the ministry will rebuild chicken coops.

“It doesn’t make sense we give you [chickens], and you don’t have anywhere to put it. Some of you don’t need much help; it is just some material, and you can help yourself. Some of it though, we need to build it back and we’re going to build it back better than it was, so reach out to your RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) officer,” Green advised.

He informed that a programme around layer chickens will also be completed as the island’s biggest loss in terms of percentage has been in egg production.

“The 458,000 birds that we have lost represent about half of our total layer flock. And you already know, we were having challenges recovering from [Hurricane] Beryl in relation to egg,” he added.

— JIS