Consumers can expect a reprieve from the current chicken shortage as early as this week, according to Agriculture Minister Floyd Green.

Speaking to Observer Online during last week’s episode of Jamaica Observer’s Market Bag, Green said the shortage stems from the devastation caused by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which struck the island on October 28, 2025, killing more than 700,000 broiler birds and damaging farm infrastructure.

“We have had some challenges with the supply of chicken coming from Hurricane Melissa. Thankfully, our main companies had a lot of inventory, so we had a seamless Christmas, but the fact that we’ve lost over 700,000 broiler birds and a number of people have just been putting back their backyard farms together,” he said.

He added that with schools reopening and tourism activity picking up, demand has increased, but he said the situation is expected to stabilise within days.

“We do expect that this week, going into next week, that will be alleviated. We do expect that consumers will be able to get chicken in the quantities that they desire, so this will not be long-lived. So we expect that by this week we should see some resolution,” the agriculture minister said.

For Kenoiy Blair, a poultry farmer from St Catherine, one of the biggest challenges for him is securing baby birds within a short period of time.

“Normally… if I go and order on Monday, I would tell them the date that I need it, and it would arrive on the date that I normally ask for. But now, the last time I set up my brooding area, it took four weeks for me to get my birds, and it took some of my friends seven weeks,” Blair said, attributing his relatively shorter wait to a decade-long relationship with his supplier Nutramix, which he said prioritises loyal customers.

Similarly, Orlando Brinique, a livestock farmer in Clarendon, said while the island-wide chick shortage has affected some poultry farmers, he has been spared due to a long-term relationship with his supplier.

“We actually get our stock on the days we have scheduled. Every four months. It’s not Hypro or Nutramix. It’s like a farm store. He is privileged to get chicks. We do get short, but nothing over like a week,” he added.

However, he noted that chicks currently available are often underweight, possibly due to hatching timing or sourcing from different breeds.

“What I do know is that since the shortage, the baby birds are underweight. I have a weighing programme, every five days I keep an average tracker… to know if I should switch up my supplement programme or stuff like that. I do know that they’re way underweight,” he said.

Cleo Jones, another poultry farmer in St Catherine, told Observer Online that due to the supply shortage, customers offer to travel from as far as Hanover to secure chickens.

“My phone blow up non-stop daily, separate and apart from my weekly customers that were here before the shortage. Persons reaching out to me as far as from Hanover, people willing to drive, come to the farm and sit down and wait until I don’t harvest the chickens,” said Cleo Jones.

Additionally, Jones said even restaurants, many of which normally purchase on credit, are now willing to pay cash up front.

“More restaurants are even now willing to pay live cash… a lot of these restaurants don’t pay live cash for chicken, aot of them credit chicken from farmers for like a week or so.
“ Nothing is wrong with that because credit, that’s what runs business. But, I’m just showing you the depth of how the shortage stands,” he explained.

The St Catherine farmer said he began experiencing challenges securing baby chicks in mid-December up to mid-January.

“I tried multiple sources and realised that it was not just a problem with my source or my sources, but it was more so of an island-wide shortage of baby chicks,” he said, adding “It has come back, because right now I’m getting baby chicks easily,” he said.

– Vanassa McKenzie