Following severe damage to local poultry farms during Hurricane Melissa, egg farmers are reiterating their call for the removal of the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on the product.

The Jamaica Egg Farmers Association (JEFA) said the measure, coupled with the proposed importation of table eggs to ensure supply stability post-Melissa, would ease the food price burden on consumers this Christmas.

“We have met with the Ministry [of Agriculture] in terms of getting a waiver to get eggs in the country at the cheapest cost to our consumers. We also reached out to see if they can remove the GCT from the eggs,” Cheryl McLeod, senior director at the Jamaica Egg Farmers Association, told Observer Online.

“Once the GCT has been removed from our local farmers’ eggs, I think it is also better for consumers,” she explained of the proposed measure which the association has long called for.

The Category Five Hurricane Melissa brought 185 mph winds and torrential rainfall to the island, destroying coops and leaving a significant portion of chicken flocks dead or traumatised, resulting in lower egg production in a sector that was still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Beryl last year.

“We are still suffering from [Hurricane] Beryl, the production has not returned and, with Melissa, we have [added] loss of production as well,” she said, adding “You see production loss right now to us is more devastating than the structural damage, because you can get back the coops within a month or so, but the production loss will take months.”

“If you have a 25 to 30 per cent production loss, to get back the birds in condition, based on the trauma and stress they have been through, it is going to take us another six months,” McLeod explained.

Egg farmers say this does not bode well for the Christmas season, when there is increased demand for the product.

“The outlook is not so bright, because a lot of farmers on the western end of the island are completely wiped out,” explained Ronald Ranger, owner and operator of RanGeorge Farm Enterprise in Kitson Town, St Catherine.

Ranger said during Hurricane Melissa, the roof of one of his chicken coops was completely ripped off, soaking the 1,100 birds inside.

“The roof went and the house got flooded, maybe four to six inches of water, we lost 400 chickens from the shock of the storm and from drowning,” he explained.

Ranger detailed the extensive clean-up effort following the storm, which included rallying his brother and other friends to break a hole in the coop so floodwater could drain out, sourcing tyres to burn the dead chickens and sawdust to dry the surviving ones, and finding medication to keep the traumatised birds alive.

With about 6,000 birds before the passage of Hurricane Melissa, Ranger said he had been packing an average of 12 boxes per day, with roughly 360 eggs per box. Following the storm, production dropped by a third to eight boxes per day.

“[The chickens] were in total shock and stressed out…They were not laying anything after the storm, since then they have been improving daily,” Ranger explained.

Even with this improvement, Ranger says he only expects the flock to get back to about 80 per cent of their original laying capacity.

Ranger’s losses pale in comparison to farmers in the west, where the storm made landfall. The total losses among JEFA members, McLeod explained, is still being tallied by the association.

“Numbers are not in as yet because we are still trying to get all the farmers [connected]. We are still compiling what is happening with the other farmers, that is registered JEFA farmers, [but] we are resilient, farmers are getting their chicken coops back in order,” she said.

While the association will be tapping imported eggs to help feed the country, McLeod emphasised that this must be done in a way that incorporates the local farmers.

“That is why we have agreed that all importation will be coordinated through the association, and the eggs will go directly to the farmers, so the farmers will be the ones distributing,” McLeod said, adding “The association will spearhead the importation of the eggs in collaboration with our partners, Jamaica Broilers and Caribbean Broilers.”

The importation process has not yet begun, with some details still to be ironed, but McLeod says the association and its partners are hoping the first batch of imported eggs reach the island by December 1.

Citing the six-month maturation period for new layer hens, Ranger urged the government to assist registered egg farmers with rebuilding quickly.

“What I would love to have is for them to help farmers who have suffered like myself rebuild and repair so they can be back in production within the next three to four months,” he said.