Poultry industry’s next growth phase hinges on intra-regional trade

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jamaica’s poultry industry has become one of the Caribbean’s agricultural success stories, but its next phase of growth will depend on expanding intra-regional trade, according to Dave Fairman, vice-president of The Best Dressed Chicken.

Speaking during a plenary discussion on private-sector investment in agriculture at the ongoing Caribbean Week of Agriculture in Trelawny, Fairman said the industry’s growth demonstrated what could be achieved when government policy and private investment worked together.

“The poultry sector, I think, has been a real success story, not just in Jamaica but the wider Caribbean. It has shown what public-private partnership can do because, quite frankly, it’s not just about the private sector,” Fairman said.

He argued that governments across the region had played a critical role in creating the conditions that allowed poultry producers to invest and expand.

“Over the years, the industry has grown to become the largest livestock sector in the Caribbean,” he said, describing poultry as the main and one of the cheapest sources of protein in the region.

Fairman said Jamaica is now approximately 80 per cent self-sufficient in poultry production, with imports largely limited to necks and backs. Even so, he argued that there remains room for increased production.

A major driver of the sector’s growth, he said, has been contract farming, which has enabled people who might otherwise have been unable to enter the industry to become commercial poultry farmers.

“What that does is allows persons who may not have been able to enter in the sector to enter in the sector because they now don’t have to worry about the markets,” he said.

ARRANGEMENT

Under the arrangement, Fairman said poultry integrators provide farmers with a guaranteed market for their output, while also giving financial institutions greater confidence to lend.

“The integrators like ourselves would provide a market for the product, and we also act as a sort of indirect guarantee to the financiers, for them to feel satisfied that they can lend money to these farmers in order to invest,” he said.

According to Fairman, the poultry industry now accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars in annual infrastructure investment.

However, he said, the sector’s future growth should not be confined to individual national markets.

“What I think we need to look at as we continue to grow and expand the sector is how we foster intra-regional trade. Intra-regional trade is still fairly lacking,” he said.

Greater movement of agricultural products across Caribbean borders would allow countries to capitalise on their respective strengths while strengthening regional food security, Fairman argued.

“How do we get agriculture generally and more specifically for the poultry sector accessing what is happening right around the region?” he asked.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com