JAMAICA

Geography
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 150 miles (240 kilometers) in length and as much as 50 miles (85 kilometers) in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is 391 miles (635 kilometers) east of the Central American mainland, 93 miles (150 kilometers) south of Cuba, and 112 miles (180 kilometers) west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated. Geographic coordinates are 18° 15' N, 77° 30' W. The land area is 10,991 sq. km. (4,244 sq. mi.).The population of Jamaica is 2,780,132 (2006 est.) with an annual population growth rate of 0.777% (2006 estimate.) The capital is Kingston, which is a metropolitan area of population 628,000. Other main cities include Montego Bay (96,600) and Spanish Town (122,700). The terrain consists of mountainous regions and discontinuous coastal plains. The climate is tropical, with a temperate interior.

The Poultry Industry
In 2006 approximately 70,000,000 broiler birds were raised by commercial poultry farmers in Jamaica. In the same year the layer bird population approximated 500,000 laying hens producing approximately 157 million eggs. In 2006, annual per capita poultry meat consumption was 54.2 kg and egg consumption was 58 eggs per person per year. 
In 2006 commercial broiler farmers accounted for 70% of broiler meat production while semi-commercial and back yard operators accounted for 30% of production. 90% of poultry production occurs in the parishes of Clarendon and St. Catharine.
There are two vertically integrated poultry companies in Jamaica providing contracts to over 300 commercial farmers. All the commercial broiler farms are aligned to one or the other of these companies and are who supplied by the company with day old chicks, feed, veterinary and technical services and transportation. The two companies also own and operate their own processing plants, hatcheries, feed mills and distribution chain. Approximately 3000 back yard farmers buy day old chicks from one of the three large hatcheries in the country. These farmers buy from 100 to 5000 birds at a time and process them in their backyard for sale to local shop keepers, small supermarkets, restaurants and others in their community. For the most part this is an important source of income for rural families and these farms are often operated and managed by women. Traditional native backyard fowls are still seen in some rural communities and cock fighting in known to exist but not on a large scale.
The commercial poultry farms are concentrated on the plains in the two central parishes of Clarendon and St Catherine while the larger egg farms are situated in the north. (See map) The level of bio-security on the commercial farms is high, at levels 1 and 2 and 70% of the broilers are reared in modern computerized tunnel ventilated houses. Since 2004, the integrated companies have been reluctant to offer contracts to farmers who do not own or intend to construct modern tunnel ventilated houses.
From the farms, birds are transported by trucks to one of the two processing plants (one in St Catherine the other in the capital city of Kingston) and after processing, the processed poultry are then distributed by refrigerated trucks to the many distribution and wholesale outlets across the island. Before leaving the processing plants all transport trucks and crates are thoroughly washed and disinfected. Trucks transporting day old chicks from the hatcheries are also thoroughly washed and disinfected before going on to a farm.

The larger of the two vertically integrated companies has its own breeder flocks in the parish of St Ann in the north. This flock produces hatching eggs for the hatchery. This company also imports a percentage of its hatching eggs from the USA. The two other hatcheries import 100% of their hatching eggs from the USA.  Only occasionally are day old chicks imported from the USA.  A limited number of turkey, quail poults and other species are imported from the USA every year for special markets. The total amount of  processed poultry meat imported in 2005 were 31 million kilograms, and the total number of hatching eggs imported for the commercial hatcheries in 2005 was 88 million eggs. A relatively small amount (200 metric tonnes) of processed poultry meat is exported to the Cayman Islands each year.
For broilers, all vaccines are administered in the hatcheries to the one day old chicks. These include vaccines against Newcastle Disease, Infectious Bronchitis and Gumboro Disease. Boosters are given in the field if warranted.
The vaccination schedule for layers includes vaccination against Marek’s Disease, Newcastle Disease, Infectious Bronchitis and Gumboro Disease. These vaccines are also administered in the hatchery along with a vaccine against coccidiosis. In the field at predetermined intervals, the layers are also vaccinated against Fowl Pox and Coryza and also receive repeat doses of the vaccines administered in the hatchery.    
Special chick delivery trucks transport the baby chicks from the hatcheries to the farms; these trucks are washed and disinfected on return to the hatcheries. From the farms the broilers are transported to the processing plant in special crates placed on flat bed trucks. The crates and trucks are washed and disinfected at the processing plants before leaving.
The table eggs industry is supported by local and imported input supply. 90% of the birds purchased and placed on the farms are ready to lay pullets which are supplied by the two local pullet companies. The pullets are from fertile eggs which are imported from the USA and hatched in four hatcheries. A quantity of liquid eggs is imported from the USA for the hospitality industry. Jamaica’s and the Caribbean’s first liquid eggs plant was established in 2006 in order to supply this product to the hotels and others in the food and hospitality sector and to reduce reliance on the imported product. It is anticipated that this will result in an increase in the number of layers and eggs produced over the next few years.
The Animal Diseases and Importation Act and Regulations address the responsibility of the Veterinary Services in the control of diseases and also define the conditions for the importation of animals including poultry. Live poultry, poultry vaccines and eggs are imported only from the USA and from reputable companies and require an import permit issued by the Veterinary Services
Disease prevention and control programmes are designed and managed mainly by the poultry companies who employ a cadre of veterinarians and technical support staff. Contract broiler farmers are visited by the technical veterinary staff weekly for disease surveillance purposes and to monitor the progress of the flocks. Veterinary Public Health Inspectors are assigned to the processing plants and conduct both ante and post mortem inspection of all birds slaughtered in the processing plants. Reports on the health status of all flocks are conveyed to the Veterinary Public Health Department.      
There have been no serious outbreaks of disease in the poultry industry in the past five years. Diseases of interest are coccidiosis, E.coli septicemia and Chronic Respiratory Disease or CRD.
The Official Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Agriculture employ nine veterinarians, thirty animal health assistants and field officers and 10 laboratory scientists and technicians. The Official Veterinary Service is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and has a partial cost recovery programme for quarantine services, granting of import/export licenses and laboratory services.  Resources are not always available for expansion of the Vet Services or for improvement to the infrastructure.
The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory is fairly well equipped as a level 2 bio-security facility. Equipment includes ELISA machines, microscopes, centrifuges, deep freezers, autoclaves and incubators. A conventional PCR machine was recently installed and should be functioning soon. For HPAI diagnosis the following tests can be conducted: ELISA, AGID and rapid ELISA based tests. 
There is a working relationship between the Ministry of Agriculture and the private poultry sector and also with the Caribbean Poultry Association, the umbrella group representing the industry. The Jamaica Egg Farmers Association, formed in 1998, represents the interest of the egg farmers and is also a member to the CPA.
Poultry sector representatives sit on the AI Steering Committee providing valuable input for the benefit of the country. The relationship is relatively strong in the areas of diagnostic laboratory collaboration and in the sharing of scientific and technical information. The industry conducts its own surveillance for AI and provides the Official Veterinary Services with the results of its surveillance on a regular basis. The Official Veterinary Services concentrates on conducting surveillance on back yard flocks as well as on the wild bird population.

Focal Point