As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) continues the quest to achieve its food and nutrition security goals, significant investment, employment and agro-processing opportunities in the poultry industry, have been identified.

Mr. Shaun Baugh, Programme Manager, Agriculture and Agro-Industrial Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, said the industry, the Region’s largest agro-industrial enterprise, presents opportunities for employment generation in wealth creation, food and nutrition security and increased economic activity. These include the creation of new industries, primary production, import replacement, manufacturing, intra-regional trade, digitalisation, and e-commerce.

He pointed to investment opportunities in feed and hatching egg production, and in value-added products such as chicken wings, nuggets, and sausages, pre-cooked and marinated chicken, and cold cuts. New investment injection in the industry, he said, is estimated at US$12M a year in areas such as hatcheries, processing plants, feed mills, tunnel-ventilated housing, and human resource development.

Mr. Baugh was delivering a presentation at the Caribbean Poultry Association’s (CPA) Eighth International Technical Symposium and Exhibition in Jamaica on 14 May, where the importance of the industry was in focus.

Encouraging investment, he pointed out that poultry and table eggs are among the priorities of the Region’s 25 x 2025+5 Food Security Initiative, which aims to reduce the food import bill by 25 per cent by 2030. With an annual gross industry sale estimated at more than US$500M, poultry has surpassed sugar and rice to become the largest agro-industrial enterprise. It employs more than 75 000 persons directly and is the largest generator of small business and rural entrepreneurship. With 82 per cent of all animal protein consumed in the Caribbean coming from poultry, Mr. Baugh highlighted the demand for the product regionally.