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By Racquel Porter
Domestic egg production is expected to drop 26 per cent over the first half of this year, worsening the current shortage and putting "pressure" on prices.
Approximately 123 million eggs were produced over the comparative period last year.
Agriculture Minister Floyd Green disclosed on Wednesday, that Jamaica is projected to produce 95.4 million eggs between January and the end of June.
"The egg industry still remains under pressure. And this pressure started in Hurricane Beryl, where we saw over 43,000 laying hens being lost to Hurricane Beryl. And that has severely impacted our domestic egg production," he noted.
Not only was the sector affected by the number of birds that died, but, according to the minister, even the birds that survived Hurricane Beryl "went through a period of trauma where they were not laying in their normal production numbers".
This, he said, was compounded by the rains that the country experienced in October and November.
Speaking at Wednesday's post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Minister Green noted price increases due to limited supplies of eggs and ready-to-lay hens.
He said the government has crafted several measures to help the sector rebound.
These include the importation of eggs and distribution of more than 50,000 ready-to-lay hens last December across the hardest hit parishes.
But Mr. Green made it clear that the importation of whole eggs will not be permitted.
"What we've started to do is to target our large scale users of eggs and to allow them to be able to import liquid eggs, especially for our baking and hospitality industry, so that that will allow more whole eggs for local consumers.
"The other thing that we're doing is that we're working with Jamaica Broilers and Caribbean Broilers to see how we can secure hatching eggs from alternative markets," said the minister, who noted that the US, which is a usual market, has also been having a severe challenge with its egg supply.
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