CB Group plans $1b investment to strengthen egg, pork supply

Hurricane Melissa dealt a heavy blow to Jamaica’s egg industry, damaging layer houses in production and sharply reducing output, even as large-scale broiler operations withstood the storm. Livestock farming, including pigs, was badly disrupted across the worst-hit parishes.

In response, CB Group has moved to rebuild egg and pork production through a nearly $1-billion investment anchored in new infrastructure and an expanded recruitment drive aimed at bringing new growers into modern, climate-controlled production.

Central to the strategy is an expansion of contract farming under an integrated model.

Through a recruitment campaign called ‘The Time Is Now’, launched yesterday in Kingston, the company is seeking landowners, entrepreneurs and returning residents willing to invest in and operate modern facilities.

CB Group would retain control over genetics, feed, technical management and market access, leaving growers to run day-to-day operations within a structured system.

“The majority of our existing broiler contract growers were not career farmers,” said Tony Blair, divisional manager for integrated poultry production at CB Group. “They were business people who saw agriculture as a disciplined, structured investment opportunity.”

The recruitment push will support two core projects: a 40,000-layer, climate-controlled egg farm, due to begin operations in September, and a 640-sow commercial breeding facility expected to produce more than 13,000 piglets a year from March next year. Both will use tunnel-ventilated, climate-smart systems designed to withstand extreme weather while improving efficiency and output.

Additional downstream infrastructure is planned to support the expansion, including a modern egg-packaging facility, a liquid egg-processing plant, and a multi-meat processing facility to strengthen pork and wider protein-processing capacity. Together, these facilities are intended to stabilise domestic supply and reduce Jamaica’s reliance on imported protein.

The approach mirrors the transformation of the broiler industry after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, when the introduction of tunnel-ventilated housing replaced traditional sheds and fundamentally reshaped poultry production. CB Group, in a release, said Melissa presents a comparable opportunity for eggs and pork.

“Gilbert forced the industry to reset. When we rebuilt, we chose to modernise, and that decision changed the trajectory of poultry production in Jamaica. Today, Melissa has created a similar moment for eggs and pork,” said Matthew Lyn, chief executive officer of CB Group.

Tunnel ventilation allows precise control of temperature, airflow and humidity, reducing mortality and improving feed conversion, as well as animal welfare. In broilers, the model helped drive dramatic growth: industry output expanded by more than 400 per cent since 1988 and generated over $300 billion in economic activity, CB Group said, citing a 2025 Caribbean Poultry Association study conducted by EY. The company now intends to extend the same production logic to other proteins.

The company insists that the model is designed to expand national production, not displace independent farmers. With Jamaica still importing significant quantities of eggs and pork, CB Group argues that rebuilding with more robust infrastructure is as much an economic necessity as it is a response to climate risk.

“If we are going to rebuild,” Lyn said, “we should rebuild in a way that makes us stronger and more competitive for the long term.”