Hanif Brown, president of the Jamaica Pig Farmers Association, has indicated that Jamaica is now self-sufficient in pork supply and that there is no need for importation going into the Christmas season and the new year.

According to Brown, while the number of pigs has decreased over the past four years from 16,000 sows to approximately 8,500 at the beginning of this year, the weight of one pig has significantly increased through improved feeding programmes.

“The pig industry is able to supply more fresh pork from fewer animals,” Brown stated. “The Ministry of Agriculture has indicated that the local market demands between eight to 10 million kilogrammes of pork per annum and we have been able to consistently meet that demand.”

He was speaking recently during a series of training workshops hosted by Hi-Pro – a division of the Jamaica Broilers Group – aimed at introducing a number of best practices to assist farmers with improving profitability.

He added that the Hi-Pro seminars are timely, as his association is seeking to influence a change to the island’s legislation to allow for the export of fresh pork to Caricom.

“The matter of food security becomes even more critical for the local and international buying public. Product traceability from farm to table will become mandatory, and we want to be prepared to meet those expected regulations leading to international certification,” Brown continued.

Vice-President for Agricultural Supplies Marketing, Conley Salmon, noted that there is no need for importation of pork at this time as farmers are now able to supply the demands of the market.

Last October, weeks away from the traditionally high-demand period for pork, meat processors and pork producers were on different sides about the supply of local pork.

After news broke that local farmers were struggling to supply fresh pork to the market as well as the quantities needed for further processing, the pig producers claimed they managed to produce their way out of the shortage.

A glut of pork supplies in 2012 saw many farmers, especially large ones, significantly scaling back their production to stay afloat, while some exited the market. Rising input costs also fed into the shortage. The effect was that supplies plummeted in 2013. With up to 10 months needed between breeding and getting pigs to market, that created a supply gap in 2014 and into 2015.

Over the period of shortage, the Ministry of Agriculture was said to have ‘resisted pressure’ from meat-processing companies to adopt a more liberal pork import policy.

Hi-Pro’s training seminars which were aimed at ensuring greater efficiencies in pig production were attended by nearly 340 pig farmers across four regions between April and July in Manchester, Westmoreland, St Catherine and Portland.

The areas covered were animal health/husbandry, proper vaccination of herds, herd management, sanitation and disease prevention, record keeping and the proper application of the Hi-Pro Pig Feeding programme.