2024 could be record year for chicken production – officials

emand for chicken is up, prompting poultry production to bounce back to pre-COVID-19 levels and set a new record this year, officials predicted on Friday.

The strong comeback is marked by a ten per cent increase in chick orders for the first quarter of the year at the island’s largest hatchery, Gale’s Agro Products, when compared to the same period last year, they said.

Based on these projections, Barbados is set to produce about 11 million birds in 2024, edging past 2019’s peak of 10.7 million.

“We are going to be at a record 11 million chicks this year,” Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir declared.

Managing Director at Gale’s Agro Products Barry Gale hailed the development: “In 2019, 10.7 million broiler chicks went into the industry. In 2020, we were on track to do better than that but then COVID-19 hit. This year, the statistics for the first four months of the year suggest that we are about ten per cent above last year’s production. By the end of April, 3.3 million chicks would have been ordered. If production continues the way it is going we should expect this year to beat the 2019’s record.”

Gail attributed the increased demand to greater spending power for Barbadians with a “really good” 2023/2024 winter tourist season that ended on Monday.

He said: “Two things happen when you get a good tourist season — there are more people on island eating chicken and more people on the island means more money flowing through the economy, which results in more locals buying chicken instead of buying alternative sources of protein such as corned beef and tuna. So the industry has benefited from the bumper tourist winter season that we had.

“We are also benefiting from the Cricket World Cup in June. We have a few big events happening before that such as Rally Barbados, where a lot of people come to watch. The push for sports tourism has really helped going into the softer months, the summer months. So I think all of those things are contributing to the increase in consumption.”

This promising news marks a significant turn of events for the poultry industry that late last year was plagued by several issues. Many small farmers complained of a high mortality rate due to above-average high temperatures, which led to an egg shortage and the government importing several containers of eggs.

Gale’s Agro Products also had an egg fertility issue, which led to delays in fulfilling orders for chicks, which in turn affected production levels.

Weir also announced that the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) was importing two 40-foot containers of chicken wings for the World Cup, as an import ban introduced early last year was relaxed.

The BADMC is the only entity allowed to import frozen or fresh poultry.

The head of the Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers’ Association Stephen Layne said he was pleased about the outlook of the island’s hatching programme but was concerned that the imported wings could affect 2024 poultry projections.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb