Easier credit access coming for egg farmers
Published:Thursday | September 15, 2011 | 12:00 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE GOVERNMENT is now in discussion with the People's Cooperative Bank and the Development Bank of Jamaica to lower interest rates to make access to credit easier for egg farmers, to expand their production.
"Egg rearing is one of my plans to go forward. We will be partnering with, and we are having ongoing discussions with egg farmers, to see how the ministry can assist them to provide additional space for expansion," said Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Robert Montague.
"What I believe to be one of the limiting factors is the cost of credit, and we are working to lower that so that they can expand their production."
He said efforts to stimulate expansion of the industry were to allow for a wider spread of earnings for industry players.
The minister was speaking to the journalists following a tour of the five-year old Caribbean Egg Producers Limited, St James, on Monday.
Mark Hart, chairman of Caribbean Producers Jamaica - the parent company of Caribbean Egg Producers - disclosed that the company was producing 15, 000 kilograms of liquid eggs per month, which falls woefully short of the 25 to 30,000 kg that they would like to produce.
Montague indicated that his ministry was working at segregating sections of the industry to ensure that it functions more effectively and industry players are able to earn more.
"A lot of our farmers do one cycle, and then they try to do everything they want to retail. They want to process, (but) it is not going to work," he explained. "We are going to need some dedicated farmers who are contracted for processing, while others could be for the retail industry. So what we are trying to do is to segregate the market for greater efficiency and to maximise earnings."