St Ann broiler grants to help 80 farmers rebuild after hurricane losses

Eighty chicken farmers in western St Ann are to receive help through a new economic support project being carried out by the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) and Discovery Bauxite.

The initiative is meant to help persons start poultry operations and to build on earlier JBI broiler programmes that assisted farmers living in communities close to bauxite mining activities.

Work on the project is expected to get under way in June, with oversight from the Discovery Bauxite Community Council. Under the programme, the JBI will give each participant 50 chickens, feed and a medical kit. Farmers will also receive training, farm visits and checks of their coops to help them manage the birds properly and make the ventures profitable.

Discovery Bauxite and the community council have described the intervention as important assistance for farmers who suffered losses from hurricanes Melissa and Beryl.

Kent Skyers, president of the council, said about 20 chicken farmers who had benefited from comparable grants last year through Discovery Bauxite and the United Way of Jamaica were wiped out by the storms. He also said more than 80 greenhouses set up by farmers and the company in mining communities were destroyed at Nine Miles, Tobolski, Watt Town and Burnt Ground.

Skyers said the JBI broiler work is part of a wider arrangement with the JBI, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Mining. That partnership will also focus on reorganising greenhouses and building large ponds for water storage as part of the agricultural recovery effort.

To keep expenses down and give farmers stronger technical support, the JBI works with organisations including Nutramix, RADA and the Jamaica Broilers Group (Hi-Pro).

Skyers said the poultry programme will operate at the same time as Discovery Bauxite's GetStart business start-up scheme, which is designed to create lasting income and employment opportunities.

GetStart selects community-based projects, individuals and groups that show both need and independence, then provides small amounts of funding or material support to help them begin. During its first two years, from 2022 to 2024, GetStart produced 94 jobs and 66 small businesses.