The Poultry Committee

The year under review saw an increase in poultry production. The increase in poultry production continued to be influenced by continued improvement in the efficiency in the industry as well as the high demand for the commodity by the expansion of fast food outlets. Also this was achieved despite the passing of Hurricane Dean and heavy rainfalls during the months of October and November which lasted for approximately six weeks and exceeded normal rainfall levels in some parishes.

Feed prices increased significantly during the year due to increase demand world wide for corn & soya bean which are the major raw materials used to manufacture poultry feed . This increase is also pushed due to the demand for ethanol which is also produced from corn and soya.

Poultry Meat Production recorded 106,580,324 kilograms in 2007, representing a 3.1 percent growth when compared to the 104,012,496 kilograms produced in 2006.

 Eggs

The Egg Industry underwent a 26.8 percent reduction during the year. This is due mainly to the passing of Hurricane Dean and torrential rainfall from October to November. This affected the egg farmers severely, resulting in a number of farmers going out of business, in particular, the small farmers.

The Association through its Poultry Committee continued the lobby efforts for continuous monitoring of legal and illegal importation of eggs. The Poultry Committee maintained the ongoing advertising campaign to increase per capita consumption of eggs.

Egg production for the year was 114.9 million, when compared to 156.99 million eggs produced in 2006.