WESTERN BUREAU:
Mark Campbell, president of the Jamaica Egg Farmers Association (JEFA), assures that, despite a slowdown in egg production following Hurricane Beryl, it should not affect the upcoming winter tourist season and Christmas holiday.
In addition to the hurricane, Campbell attributed the falloff to JEFA’s misjudgement in relying on older birds, expecting them to return to production within three weeks, which did not occur.
“After the hurricane, JEFA and other stakeholders underestimated the turnaround time for recovery, and we thought that the birds would return to full production within a three-week period,” Campbell told The Gleaner.
“It never happened, and, upon analysis, we realised that many of these birds had passed their peak production time and were the older birds in the field at that time.”
Campbell explained that the brown layer birds, which make up the majority of those owned by egg farmers across the island, generally become less productive once they pass the one-year mark.
“When they passed a certain age, their level of productivity fell off fairly rapidly and they didn’t come back as we expected,” Campbell said, referring to the birds that survived Hurricane Beryl.
However, Campbell assured that the current reduction in supplies is not expected to impact the demand for eggs during the winter tourist season, Christmas, or New Year’s, as new birds have replaced the older ones since August.
“New birds have been going into the field since August, into September, and the early part of October. We’ll see over 200,000 new layers going into the field, and we feel that that will be good enough for us going into the New Year and the tourist season,” said Campbell.
Meanwhile, egg farmer Cameisha Anderson, who operates her farm on Barracks Road in Whitehorn, Westmoreland with around 135 layers, shared that she will not be able to contribute to the Christmas egg supply. Her birds have not produced any eggs since June.
“From about June, my layers stopped laying, even though I am still feeding them as required, but they are not giving me any eggs,” said Anderson, who remains unsure about the cause.
Anderson added that while she was not directly affected by Hurricane Beryl, her lack of production for the past four months will prevent her from supplying her usual local shops and customers.
“When my egg production was normal, my sales were largely from people in the community and a few grocery shops. So, with what is happening now, I will not have any eggs for Christmas, unless a miracle takes place between now and then,” she added.
Recognising the impact of the hurricane, which led to the loss of over 300,000 birds, including layers, Agriculture Minister Floyd Green announced measures to support the farmers’ recovery.
“We’re going to help our egg farmers rebound. So we’ve already earmarked about 50,000 pellets that will be distributed over the next month to help our egg farmers get back out there,” Green stated while speaking at the recent Bee Farmers Association Healthy Lifestyle Day in Montego Bay.
He also mentioned additional support for poultry farmers, including $26 million to rebuild chicken infrastructure.
“What we saw with Hurricane Beryl was not only that people lost their chickens, but, unfortunately, the entire coop went away. So, for the first time, we’re saying it doesn’t make sense to give you back the chicken when you don’t have anywhere to put it,” added Green.