Spur Tree Spices plans ackee orchard to strengthen supply
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Spur Tree Spices Limited is planting roughly 3,000 ackee trees to secure its own supply of the fruit, as demand from overseas markets outpaces what its current suppliers can deliver, CEO Albert Bailey told the Financial Gleaner.
"Right now, the demand for ackee far outstrips the supply," Bailey said. "We're expecting that somewhere in the region of July to September, we'll see a very good ackee crop.”
He said that Hurricane Melissa last October reduced production, but normality should return “within three months”.
The company is establishing an ackee orchard of between 60 and 75 acres through one of its two ackee-producing subsidiaries. Bailey said the 3,000 trees represent the first phase, with the number to increase over time. At a density of 40 to 50 trees per acre, ackee trees take three to four years to begin producing fruit and reach full production in seven years, according to the Department of Chemistry at The University of the West Indies, Mona. A previous orchard effort by the company was hampered by drought.
Roughly 95 per cent of Spur Tree's canned ackee is exported. Ackee is one of Jamaica's key agricultural exports, earning US$18.1 million in 2024, down from US$26 million in 2023. Exports were hampered over the last two years due to hurricane damage.
"We have looked into the establishment of an orchard and that is something that one of the two ackee-producing entities within the group is currently engaged in," Bailey said.
The orchard announcement comes as Spur Tree reported a net profit of $116.5 million for the year ended December 2025, up 19.6 per cent from $96 million in 2024. Revenue rose 14.6 per cent to $1.79 billion from $1.56 billion the prior year.
The gains came despite Hurricane Melissa striking in the fourth quarter. The company said it had been on course for its "strongest" annual performance on record before Melissa made landfall on October 28. Recovery was aided by the company's 240-acre farm at Barnard Lodge, St Catherine, which supplies Scotch bonnet pepper, scallion, onion, and other produce.
"The farm has enabled us to speed up recovery. Thankfully, we had seedlings in the farm that we could actually plant out very quickly after the hurricane. We are reaping peppers and scallions and other produce right now," Bailey said.
Photo caption: Albert Bailey CEO of Spur Tree Spices Ltd.