The arrival of Hurricane Beryl in Jamaica on 3 July brought with it a duality of experiences for Jamaicans.

There were parts of Jamaica that experienced some rainfall, little to no wind and short-lived loss of electricity on that day (if at all). In other parts of the country, in particular, Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth, our highest producing agricultural area, the devastation was of epic proportions.

Homes, infrastructure and agricultural production, were all hard hit, not just by the hurricane, but also by the loss of electricity and water (both potable and irrigation water) which extended the fall out in agricultural production.

Small chicken farmers in these parishes, in addition to their homes, lost their coops and productive capacity, the chicken meat in their freezers and their ability to earn a living.

Hard decisions had to be made by these small farmers about prioritizing the use of financial resources they had access to – savings, cash on hand, pardner draws, loans. Decisions on “do I fix my home, buy a generator, buy water, get children ready for back to school, fix my chicken coop or goat/hog pen became front and centre. Incredibly, our small farmers in large part, rode and whistled at the same time. They simultaneously began rebuilding their homes and lives, while getting their agricultural production going again (albeit at a reduced level).

Hi-Pro was there beside our small farmers providing support through the provision of seeds, fertilizer, herbicides, tools, baby chicks and animal feeds. In the month of July, we gave away almost 200,000 baby chicks and feed to small chicken farmers who had coops but no money to restock them. We encouraged this quick return to production and also provided the technical support through our vets, extension officers and agronomists. As time passed, we saw more and more small chicken farmers getting back into production.

The Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Mining (MOAFM) also procured baby chicks and feed for small farmers to boost chicken meat production and towards meeting local demand and they continue to do so.

When one considers that it takes a week to ship hatching eggs to Jamaica, another 3 weeks for them to hatch and then 6 weeks to grow them out ready for slaughter, we are now in that window where the resilience of our farmers and the fruits of their labour are being realized with increased production. In fact, in the month of October, 5 per cent more baby chicks have been supplied to the market by Hi-Pro than over the same period last year.

That trend is projected to continue all the way through to December 2024. In fact, based on the recent MOAFM industry assessment, this year Jamaica will surpass the 137 million kilograms of chicken meat produced in 2023.

As chicken meat production rebounds, and with small chicken farmers accounting for 30 per cent of all chicken meat produced in Jamaica, alongside the ramped up efforts of the commercial producers, we are confident that there will be adequate supplies of home grown, quality chicken meat available for the festive season; especially as this is the one time of year when persons who raise chickens only once for the year, get into that market in time for Christmas.

Jamaica’s chicken farmers have answered the call once again as they did during the Covid pandemic when chicken meat production set new records at the time. It’s now time for us all, to again support Jamaica’s chicken farmers and buy from them.

They accepted the risk, weathered the storm and have rebounded in record time and at record levels. They produce fresh, quality chicken meat that remains the best protein value for money in the Jamaican market.