Clarke THE DECISION by Jamaica Broilers Group Ltd. to stop buying calves for its 3,000-head feedlot at its Content farm, McCook's Pen, south west St. Catherine, is said to be spelling disaster for the small farmers who now supply it with the weaners.
According to the farmers, who are known collectively as The Beef Farmers' Association of Jamaica, the decision represents a far greater threat to their livelihood and the future of the Jamaican beef industry, than that posed by the Foot-and-Mouth and Mad Cow diseases which are now wreaking havoc in Europe, South and Central America.
The beef farmers had appealed to Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke in a meeting on March 28, to place a temporary ban on all imports of beef, dairy, goat, pork and sheep products to protect the local industry from the diseases.
A beef farmer told The Gleaner that Jamaica Broilers' decision would pose "a serious problem".
He pointed out that demand for beef had fallen in recent times, with some people not being able to afford it and the others who could, becoming more health-conscious and opting for "white meat" instead. In the meantime the price of live animals had gone down to $8 to $12 a lb. while butchers were selling beef for $40 and $45 a lb.
He said that with the small farmers not being able to sell their weaners to Jamaica Broilers from September 2001, "the only thing they can do is to remove the bulls from the herds and sell the pregnant animals". He said that if the cows were allowed to calve then the bull calves "should all be clamped".
The farmer said there is likely to be an increase in the number of stray cattle on the roads as farmers abandon them, not being able to find pasture for them, pointing out at the same time that stray animals were more vulnerable to Foot-and-Mouth disease. There was no guarantee it wouldn't surface here, he said, adding, "We just have to be more vigilant and pray that it doesn't happen".
The meeting was told the story of two little mice "Sniff-Sniff" and "Scurry-Scurry" and two little men "Hem" and "Haw" who lived in a maze and ate cheese. Every day they went to a room in the maze which was kept full of cheese. One day somebody moved all the cheese and the mice and men had nothing to eat.
The mice ran around the maze and soon discovered a new supply of cheese in a bigger room with better cheese. In contrast the men sat down and complained, "Somebody moved my cheese".
The meeting was then advised that the executive of Jamaica Broilers Group had decided to "move the cheese" and encouraged the farmers present to behave like "the mice" and not like "the men".
"The cheese" was said to be the secure market for the farmers' calves which the Content Agricultural Products feedlot had been purchasing for the last 20 years. The farmers during the period had changed to "cow/calf" farmers and kept their farms full of bulls and breeding cows selling all the calves at eight and nine months of age as "weaners" to Content.
The farmers were told that the purchase of weaner calves, which had been at a level of 600 head each month, had been reduced to 100 head only for the month of March and would cease completely by September 2001.
Beef farmers thanked the Minister for having given the maximum protection allowed under WTO rules to all agricultural products produced in Jamaica. They said that probably more than any previous Minister of Agriculture he had made himself available to and had helped all groups of farmers in Jamaica.
Answering farmers' questions, Mr. Ian Pasard, managing director of Content, said Content Agriculture Products had permanent working capital of over $100 million of which some $40 million was in the feedlot operations at McCooks Pen when fully stocked with 3,000 head, and the Group needed this money to reduce its debt.
He emphasised that Content and Jamaica Broilers were not getting out of the beef business but it no longer had the priority it enjoyed in previous years.
The beef farmers of Jamaica say they "do not appreciate the treatment given them by the executive of Jamaica Broilers Group Ltd." They complained that Jamaica Broilers had decided to cease purchasing the calves "without due process of consultation and within a time period that would allow the farmers to adjust their farm operations".
Specifically they would like the Agriculture Minister to work with the Jamaica Livestock Association to resolve the problem as the JLA had for almost 60 years made representation to the Government on behalf of beef farmers.
"We are asking that the Content feedlot be re-opened to relieve the large surplus of weaner calves backed up on farms to the extent that some farmers are running short of grass", the association says.
"We do not expect a large publicly-listed company such as Jamaica Broilers group to send their president to tell a loyal group of farmers, 'We have moved your cheese' now act like mice, not men'".
