In 1995, when residents of three communities in St. Ann complained of dust nuisance from the mining operations of the Kaiser bauxite plant, they had no idea that from the dust, would come their source of wealth.

From the money they received in compensation from Kaiser, 26 families from Water Valley, Happy Mews and St. D'Acre came together to invest in a chicken farm, which 11 years later is a thriving business, producing thousands of pounds of poultry meat, most of which is sold at the Brown's Town market.

Kent Skyers, public and community relations officer at the company, now called St. Ann Bauxite Partners, is reminiscent of a proud father in his praise of the growth of the farm over the last 11 years.

"After we have given the opportunity to the community, they have run the business well to the point where they are now expanding on their own and we are looking forward to see the ways we can assist them in the rearing and marketing of chickens," he says.

High quality products

He notes that the chickens reared are of high quality, creating a high demand for the product. "Persons who actually buy chickens the first time keep coming back, so we are convinced that what we have there is an industry that can only get bigger and we want to help them to get bigger," Mr. Skyers notes.

The families have formed a cooperative for the operation of the enterprise, called the Water Valley Farm Chicken Coopera-tive, which is registered with the National Cooperative Society of Jamaica.

"This means that your books are audited by the Government agency so you have to run it as a business, so the main thing is that a group of persons came together, registered as a business entity and have to follow certain regulations," Mr. Skyers explains.

Plans to expand

He notes that while most of the chicken is sold in the Brown's Town market, "The next mission now is to really get involved more in the hotel trade in the parish and as the hotel trade expands, there is going to be a higher demand for chickens, and Valley Farm is able and ready and prepared to meet that demand".

The chicken farm is built on land cleared by Kaiser in the hilly region of Water Valley. In addition to the chicken house, Kaiser also erected a high-tech processing facility, which is equipped with two large freezers and a range of other apparatus. The bauxite company also provided electricity for the farm and installed adequate water storage facilities, as the area was without running water.

Further to this, the company's maintenance department con-tinues to lend assistance in the upkeep of the chicken farm's machinery.

- JIS